A TREATISE 



BAPTISM 



WITH AX EXHORTATION TO RECEIVE IT, TRANSLATED FROM THE 
WORKS OF ST. BASIL THE GREAT. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED 



31 ®reati0€ on (Confirmation, 



BY FRANCIS PATRICK KENRICK, 
Bishop of Philadelphia. 



1 Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers 
of the mysteries of God." 1 Cor. iv. 1. 






PHILADELPHIA : 
M. FITHIAN, 61 NORTH SECOND STREET 



1843. 



to? 




Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 184 

FRANCIS PATRICK KENRICK, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania. 



Lc Control Number 




tmp96 027444 



Philadelphia. 

PRINTED BY KING AND BAIRD, 

No. 9 George Street. 



To The Right Rev. Benedict Joseph Flaget, Bishop of Louisville. 

Right Rev. Sib, 

The permission received from you several years ago, to publish, 
with your sanction, some discourses then recently delivered by me on baptism, 
in your Cathedral, emboldens me to dedicate to you the treatise on this sacra- 
ment, of which those sermons form the rude materials. Although my rela- 
tions to you have changed, I entertain the same profound veneration for your 
character, and the same devoted attachment to your person. 

I have the honor to be, Right Rev. Sir, 

Your devoted brother in Christ, 

f FRANCIS PATRICK, 
Philadelphia, Bishop of Philadelphia. 

Feast of the Purification, 
1843. 



PREFACE 



Some years ago, when I was a Missionary in Kentucky, 
an invitation or challenge given me by a Baptist Minister, 
to preach in his Meeting-house on the subject of baptism, 
which I declined, induced me to deliver in the Cathedral 
of Bardstown, four sermons on baptism, which I subse- 
quently published. I have been frequently urged to reprint 
them ; and have, at length, determined to throw the mate- 
rials of them into a new form, better suited to the critical 
nature of the investigations which they embrace. My 
present position, in a city wherein the Society of Friends 
is numerous, has led me to treat in this work of the insti- 
tution of water-baptism, which was not called in question 
by those who invited the original controversy. The learned 
tract on this subject from the pen of Dr. Pusey has so 
abundantly established the efficacy of this Sacrament, that 
I have been less solicitous to multiply proofs of it, although 

I have treated of it at some length. The necessity of 

1* 



VI PREFACE. 

baptism, and the lawfulness of baptizing infants, and the 
validity of the various modes of baptism are the chief 
points on which I dwell. To immersion we are by no 
means opposed, although we maintain the sufficiency of 
other modes, and the necessity to respect the established 
immemorial usage of particular places. In a controversy 
between Charles Blackwood, an Anabaptist, and Thomas 
Blake, a Presbyterian, the former having alleged in his 
behalf the authority of St. Thomas Aquinas, Blake re- 
plied : " Aquinas was a man zealous for the use of dipping, 
as is generally the popish party and popishly inclined."* 
The practice of sprinkling, which prevails among Presby- 
terians, is exposed to so great danger of nullity, from the 
light manner in which it is performed, that Catholics are 
not favorable to it ; although they hold such aspersion as 
may be reasonably deemed an ablution, to be valid bap- 
tism. 

In maintaining Catholic truth, I have had occasion to 
notice the opposite errors, held by various sects, and advo- 
cated in the writings of individuals still living. This I 
have done without respect of persons, yet, as I hope, 
without forgetting the courtesy and charity which become 
the apologist of religion. To give pain to others affords 
me no gratification, but I dare not dissemble the awful de- 
parture from the ancient and unchangeable principles of 



* Infants Baptisme freed from Antichristianisme, by Thomas 
Blake, Minister of the Gospel London, 1645, p. 10. 



PREFACE. Vll 

faith, which is perceived among the professed ministers of 
Christ. 

I have subjoined to this Treatise the translation of a 
discourse of St. Basil the Great, in which he exhorts 
the many who in his age delayed baptism, although con- 
vinced of the truth of Christianity, to hasten to receive it. 
The readers will no doubt be gratified to hear, as it were, 
I this venerable Doctor of the East, after fifteen centuries, 
I explaining the nature and effects of baptism, enforcing its 
j necessity, and pointing to the vain pretexts on which it 
1 was by many postponed. His discourse will be particu- 
j larly felt by some, who in our day likewise postpone, from 
I time to time, the reception of this most necessary Sacra- 
\ ment. 

I take this opportunity of correcting a mistake into 
which I fell, in my work on Justification, concerning the 
view given of the nature of justifying faith in a work then 
recently published by Mr. Vanbrugh Livingston. It ap- 
peared to me similar to one of the views presented by 
Luther : but as this very respectable gentleman immedi- 
ately on the appearance of my book assured me that he 
rejected altogether the theories of Luther on this subject, 
I cheerfully retract my assertion. Since that time the esti- 
mable author has abjured every error opposed to Catholic 
truth, and has taken refuge in the ark. 

I have annexed a short Treatise on Confirmation, as it 
is meet that these sacraments should not be separated, 



Vlll PREFACE. 

whenever they may be conveniently received at the same 
time, according to the ancient discipline of the Church. 
Controversy on this latter subject being rare, although it 
be cancelled by the sects generally from the number of the 
sacraments, I have not thought it necessary to enter very 
deeply into the examination of the proofs and objections. 
To my readers I earnestly recommend devout and 
humble prayer, to prepare their minds for the strong 
Catholic truths which they will meet with in this work. 
The institutions of our Divine Redeemer are to be regard- 
ed with the eye of enlightened faith ; and with an entire 
acquiescence in the justice and wisdom of His laws. It is 
weakness to attempt to soften down what may appear 
harsh in the divine teaching, and to present the revealed 
truths in a garb that may suit the capricious fancy of 
erring man. 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter I. — Baptism of John, - - - 13 

Society of Friends. — Views of Sects concerning John's bap- 
tism. — Ancient Jewish usages.— Mosaic rites. — Heavenly 
character of John's baptism. — Ends of baptism of Christ. — 
Baptized by John again baptized. — Testimonies of Fathers. 

Chapter II. — Christian Baptism, - - 27 

Views of the Friends. — Inward testimony. — Literal mean- 
ing. — Baptism with the Holy Ghost. — Barclay's objection. — 
Nicodemus. — Calvin's interpretation. — Interpretation of the 
ancients. 



Chapter III. — Apostolic Practice, - 40 

The Apostles baptized. — Acknowledgment of Lewis, and 
Gurney. — Practice of Jewish ceremonies. — St. Paul's language 
to the Corinthians. — Baptism of the Apostles. 

Chapter IV. — Objections of the Friends, - 48 

One baptism. — Putting on Christ, — Text of St. Peter. — 
Baptism of Converts. — Relic of Judaism. — Material observ- 
ance. — Visible instruments of grace. — Ancient practice. — Sects. 



X CONTENTS. 

Chapter V. — Original Sin, - - 59 

Pelagius. — Sentiments of Baptists, and other sects. — Catho- 
lic doctrine. — Evidence of our fallen condition. — Barnes. — 
Many and all. — Death of Christ for all. — Silence in sacred 
narrative. — Job. — David. — Ancient fathers. 



Chapter VI. — Necessity of Baptism, - - 72 

Anglicans. — Bishops Mcllvaine and Onderdonk. — Presbyte- 
rian confession. — Proof. — Baptist interpretations. — Pangs of 
new birth. — Twofold regeneration. — Judge Rush. — Ancient 
Fathers. — Apostolic commission. — Lot of unbaptized persons 
— of children. — Misquotation by Bishop Mcllvaine. — Opinion 
of St. Augustin. 

Chapter VII. — Effects of Baptism, - - 93 

Views of the Sects. — Changes in Book of Common Prayer. 
— General view — Catholic faith. — Scriptural proofs. — Objec- 
tions. — Testimonies of Fathers. — Regeneration. — Feigned dis- 
positions. — Character impressed. 

Chapter VIII. — Origin of Baptists, - - 116 

Muncer. — Storck. — Leyden. — Mode of baptism. — English 
Baptists. — Pretensions of Baptists. 

Chapter IX. — Baptism of Infants, - - 124 

Opinions of Sects. — Scriptural proofs of Infant baptism. — 
Practice of the Apostles. — Testimonies of the Fathers. — De- 
crees of Popes and Councils. — Anglican appeal to Church 

tradition. — Testimony of Taylor Peculiar views of Tertul- 

lian and St. Gregory of Nazianzum. — Instances of adult bap- 
tism. — Objection from ancient practice of giving the Eucharist 
to children answered. — Recapitulation of proofs. — Infants bap- 
tized by all the Eastern Sects. 



CONTENTS. XI 

Chapter X. — Modes of Baptism, - - 150 

Immersion common to Baptists, Campbellites and Mormons. 
— Principles of Baptists, Presbyterians, Anglicans and Metho- 
dists. — Slight sprinkling. — Catholic principles and usages. — 
Burial in baptism. — Scriptural allusions. — Baptism a laver. — 
End of baptism. — Ancient modes of baptizing. — Testimonies 
of Fathers. — Tertullian, St. Cyprian, Pope Cornelius. — Can- 
ons of Councils — Facts. — Baptism of the sick. — Proof drawn 
from necessity of baptism. — Baptists suffer the sick to die with- 
out baptism. — First Baptists rebaptized by persons themselves 
baptized in infancy by infusion. — Custom of the Greeks. — 
Causes of change of discipline. — Indecency of immersion. 

Chapter XT. — Meaning of the term baptize, - 178 

Classical meaning, primary and secondary. — Examples. — 
Hebrew Hellenistic usage. — Examples from the Septuagint. — 
Figurative meaning. — New Testament examples. — Mode of 
John's baptism. — We with the Fathers. 

Appendix, ----- 195 

Chapter XII. — Apostolic precedents, - - 199 

Baptism of 3,000. — Jailer. — Cornelius. — Disciples at Ephe- 
sus. — Eunuch. — Presumptions. — Divine voucher. 

Chapter XIII. — Dispositions for Baptism, - 205 

Infants need none. — Adults must believe all revelation. — 

Scrutiny. — Apostolic Symbol. — Law of God Renunciation 

of Satan. — Impression of character. — Preservation of grace. 

Chapter XIV. — Ceremonies of Baptism, - 212 

Cure of the deaf and dumb man. — Questions. — Breathing. 
— Sign of the Cross. — Imposition of hands. — Salt. — Exor- 
cisms. — Stole. — Symbol. — Lord's Prayer. — Ephpheta.— Saliva. 
— Anointing. — Nudity. — White robe. — Light. 

Exhortation to Baptism, by St. Basil the Great, 225 



Xll CONTENTS. 



TREATISE ON CONFIRMATION. 






Chapter I. — Divine Institution, - - - 242 

Views of the Sects. — Catholic doctrine. — Imposition of 
hands by Peter and John. — Paul at Ephesus. — Miraculous 
gifts. — Acknowledgment of the Oxford divines. — Fathers of 
the Church. — Use of Chrism. — Minister of the Sacrament. — 
Practice of the Greeks. — End of Confirmation. — Spiritual 
character. 

Chapter II.— Rites of Confirmation, - - 257 

Power of the Church. — Present rite. — Extension of hands. 
Prayer. — Imposition of hand — Signing with Chrism. — Blow 
on the cheek. 



ON BAPTISM. 



CHAPTER I. 



BAPTISM OF JOHN. 



Before I treat of the baptism instituted by Christ our 
Lord, I am under the necessity of considering the nature 
of the baptismal rite which John performed. The 
"Friends," or "Quakers," as they are popularly called, 
whose Society derived its origin from George Fox, an 
English Anabaptist,* discarding all external rites, say that 

* He was by trade a shoemaker, and gave rise to this Society 
about the year 1650. The appellation of Quakers was given them, 
as some say, because George Fox bade a magistrate tremble at the 
word of the Lord, or as others explain it, from their trembling in 
their meetings occasionally, when inwardly struggling with the 
enemy: "As they come to be sensible of this power of his that 
works against them, and to wrestle with it by the armour of light, 
sometimes the power of God will break forth into a whole meeting, 
and there will be such inward travail, while each is seeking to over- 
come the evil in themselves, that by the strong contrary workings of 
these opposite powers, like the going of two contrary tides, every 
individual will be strongly exercised as in a day of battle ; and 
thereby trembling, and a motion of body will be upon most, if not 
upon all." Barclay Apol. Prop. xi. §. 8. 

2 



14 BAPTISM OF JOHN. 

the baptism of Christ is no other than an interior opera- 
tion of the Divine Spirit, and is thus distinguished from 
the baptism which John performed, which was in water. 
The Catholic Church maintains the distinction of the two 
baptisms, and anathematizes whosoever asserts that the 
baptism of John had the same virtue as the baptism of 
Christ : but holds that water is to be used in Christian 
baptism, as it was in that of John.* Calvin, with his ad- 
herents, was aimed at by this canon, since he taught that 
the difference between them lay in the accompanying in- 
struction, rather than in the rites themselves, or their effects, 
inasmuch as John taught that Christ was about to come, 
whilst the Christian rite supposes Him already manifest- 
ed.! Dr. Miller, however, although an ardent Calvinist, 
says, " It is certain that John's baptism was not Chris- 
tian baptism. "J The members of the society called Baptists 
speak to the same effect, and consider their name as iden- 
tifying them with John, who is styled the Baptist, be- 
cause he baptized the multitudes that approached him, 
confessing their sins and professing repentance. Their 
confession of faith, however, is silent as to the Baptism 
of John, and speaks only of baptism as an ordinance of 
the New Testament appointed and ordained by Jesus 
Christ. Isaac Taylor Hinton, a recent Baptist writer, 
says : " I regard the baptism of John as Christian baptism 

* Cone. Trid. Sess. vii. de Bapt. can. 1. Dr. Pusey has well 
shown the harmony of the Fathers, in acknowledging the excellence 
of Christian Baptism, notwithstanding some difference of views as to 
the effects of the baptism of John. Tract on Baptism, p. 208. 

-j- Inst. 1. iv. c. xv. 7. This error *is triumphantly refuted by Dr. 
Pusey, in his learned Tract on Baptism, p. 193. et seq. Am. ed. 

t Miller's Tract on Baptism, p. 38, cited by Hinton, p. 68. 



BAPTISM OF JOHN. 15 

in an incompletely developed state ; yet with all its ele- 
ments of character strongly marked."* He glories in the 
idea that he has been baptized with the same baptism of 
which his Great Master and Teacher personally partook.t 
This, I believe, may be considered as the general senti- 
ment of Baptists. 

Whether the rite of baptizing was practised among the 
Jews previously to the time of John, is a subject of dispute 
among the learned. Maimonides and other Jewish writers 
state that it was used on occasion of admitting to Jewish 
privileges the Gentiles, who sought to be incorporated with 
the nation ; but many maintain that the Gentile converts 
merely bathed, to express by the act that they cleansed and 
put away all the defilements of idolatry. Various purifica- 
tions were prescribed in the Mosaic law, wherein the 
priest sprinkled with blood, or water, those who had con- 
tracted legal uncleanness. The washing of the whole body 
was also, in some instances, enjoined, yet it was to be 
performed by the individual himself ;J and was therefore a 
bath rather than a baptism, as this term is now understood. 

In the consecration of Aaron and his sons, Moses was 
directed to wash them with water ;§ which is the only in- 
stance of the ablution of the whole body performed by a 
person different from the individual washed. Whatever 
resemblance may exist between this rite, or the legal as- 
persions, and the baptism of the multitudes by John, it 
was peculiar to him to baptize on a profession of repent- 
ance, and as a means of preparation for the immediate 
coming of the Redeemer. His baptism was consequently 

* A History of Baptism, p. 65, by Isaac Taylor Hinton, Philadel- 
phia, 1840. 

f Ibidem, p. 68. t Lev. xv. § Exod. xL 12. 



16 BAPTISM OF JOHN. 

different from the legal purifications, or other Jewish 
usages, and differed likewise from the rite subsequently 
instituted by Christ. 

Of John Christ had spoken by the prophet Malachy: 
" Behold, I send my Angel, and he shall prepare the way 
before my face."* His father Zacharias, under divine in- 
spiration, had declared the preparatory character of his 
ministry : " Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the 
Most High : for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, 
to prepare his way : to give knowledge of salvation to his 
people, unto the remission of their sins."t 

We are not authorized by any expression of the sacred 
writers, to consider the baptism of John as a rite of divine 
institution. He certainly was " a man sent by God," 
and he acted under the influence of the Divine Spirit, both 
in his fervent exhortations to penance, and in his adoption 
of this rite, the natural emblem of the purification of the 
penitent. It is on that account called purification, where 
mention is made of a dispute between the disciples of 
John and the Jews on this subject. J It does not, how- 
ever, appear that any grace was imparted by it, although 
it is styled " the baptism of penance for the remission of 
sins."§ God, no doubt, granted pardon to the penitent ; 
and therefore the rite of baptism, which, with the preach- 
ing of John, was intended to awaken sentiments of peni- 
tence, and to excite those baptized to make to themselves 
a new heart and a new spirit, is properly so designated by 
the Evangelist. We know of no form of words accompa- 
nying the ablution ; but it was preceded by the announce- 



* Malach. iii. 1, f Luke 1. 76. 

t John iii. 25. § Mark i. 4. 



BAPTISM OF JOHN. 17 

ment of Him who was to come, that is Jesus, in whom 
he taught them to believe. 

The baptism of Christ by John was intended to give a 
public sanction to the ministry of the Precursor ; whereby 
all might be encouraged to hearken to his preaching, and 
every appearance of rivalry between him and Christ might 
be taken away from the minds of the Jews.* It was at the 
same time the occasion of a public and solemn testimony 
of John to Christ, confirmed by heavenly evidences of his 
divine character ; and it was, as it were, to consecrate the 
waters by the contact of the Incarnate God, that they 
might thenceforward be the instrument of human sanctifi- 
cation. He, holy and undefiled, needed not " the baptism 
of penance for the remission of sins;" but when the Pre- 
cursor hesitated, and acknowledged his own need to be 
washed and purified by Christ: "I ought to be baptized 
by thee : and comest thou to me ?" — " Jesus answering, 
said to him : Suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh 
us to fulfil all justice."! 

That the baptism of John was a mere preparatory rite, 
emblematic of penance, is most evident from the divine 

* Among the reasons which Witsius, as quoted by Booth, gives for 
the baptism of Christ by John, one is " to declare by his voluntary 
submission to baptism, that he would not delay the delivering up of 
himself to be immersed in the torrents of hell, yet with a certain faith 
and hope of emerging." Miscel. Sac. I. II. Exer. xv. §63. In reply 
to Adam Clarke, who affirms that Christ was baptized as High Priest, 
Hinton observes : "Asa Jew, it would have been criminal, instead of 
praiseworthy, for our Lord to have appropriated to himself any of the 
ceremonies belonging solely to the tribe of Levi." A History of Bap- 
tism, p. 81. It is thus that men rashly speak of our Divine Lord ! 

f Mat. iii. 14. 

2* 



18 BAPTISM OF JOHN. 

scriptures.* Had it been the same as the baptism of Christ, 
no one would have been baptized anew, who had received 
the ablution of the Precursor : yet we find that persons 
who had been baptized by John were not considered mem- 
bers of the christian church, until they afterwards received 
the baptism of Christ. " There went out to him all the 
country of Judea, and all they of Jerusalem, and were bap- 
tized by him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins."t 
In less than five years afterwards, Peter, in Jerusalem itself, 
addressed the multitude that had gathered together to wit- 
ness the miraculous manifestations of the presence of the 
Holy Spirit on the Apostles. Many, who had come from 
distant nations to worship in the Jewish temple, were pre- 
sent on the occasion : but it is highly probable that the vast 
majority were of Jerusalem, or of some part of Judea. 
Peter addressed them as guilty of crucifying Jesus, and 
putting him to death by the hands of wicked men : and as 
they were moved to compunction, and inquired what they 
should do, to obtain forgiveness, he told them: " Do pen- 
ance and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus 
Christ.";); He urges each one of them to seek christian 
baptism, although doubtless many, perhaps most of them, 
had been baptized by John. " They therefore that received 
his word were baptized : and there were added in that day 
about three thousand souls. "§ 

* Enoch Lewis, having quoted the words of John to our divine 
Master, observes : " From this account it is obvious that John did not 
consider his baptism as a part of the christian system." Essay on 
Baptism, Philadelphia, 1839, p. 21. This is quite true; but the 
inference the author draws thence, that baptism by water is no part of 
the christian system, does not follow. 

f Mark i. 5. i Acts ii. 38. 

§ lb. 41, It is wonderful with what sang froid Hinton, contrary 



BAPTISM OF JOHN. 19 

In the nineteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles a 
fact is recorded, which establishes most clearly the dis- 
tinction between the baptism of John and that of Jesus. 
" It came to pass when Apollo was at Corinth, that Paul, 
having passed through the upper parts, came to Ephesus, 
and found certain disciples. And he said to them : Have 
you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? But they 
said to him : We have not so much as heard whether there 
be a Holy Ghost. And he said : In what* then were ye 
baptized ? Who said : In John's baptism. Then Paul 
said : John baptized the people with the baptism of pen- 
ance, saying, That they should believe in him who was to 
come after him ; that is to say, in Jesus. Having heard 
these things, they were baptized in the name of the Lord 
Jesus. "t We need no clearer evidence of the distinction 
of christian baptism from that of John, and of the necessity 
of baptizing anew, with the christian rite, those whom John 
had baptized. These disciples were supposed by the Apos- 
tle to have received christian baptism, and were therefore 
interrogated by him whether they had received the Holy 
Ghost by the imposition of hands ; he being solicitous to 
strengthen them by this new gift, in case they had not 
already received it. To his surprise they were ignorant 

to the plain import of the sacred text, observes: "I have always 
considered this number to include those who had been baptized either 
by John, or by the disciples of Christ during his lifetime, who availed 
themselves on the first public appearance of the church in its organized 
capacity to unite with it." A History of Baptism, p. 92. 

* " fits here, and often, does not denote purpose, — but $1$ with the 
accus. is put for £v (by) with a dative, as in forms of swearing, e. gr. 
Matt. v. 35, £fc$ Ispotfokv^ot, which is just after followed by dpvvsw iv 
*V Yll" Bloomfield in locum. 

-j- Acts xix. 1. 



20 BAPTISM OF JOHN. 

of the rite of which he spoke, and of the gift imparted by 
it. They said that they had not even heard that there 
was a Holy Ghost. The question put by the Apostle, 
"In what then were you baptized ?" supposes that express 
belief in the Holy Ghost was required of applicants for 
christian baptism, and that He was solemnly invoked in 
its administration ; and consequently that no adult could be 
baptized without a knowledge of His divine influence and 
gifts. The baptism of John was accompanied with no 
such invocation: and although the Divine Spirit, in the 
shape of a dove, descended on our Redeemer when bap- 
tized, it was not the effect of the rite, but the testimony 
of the Father to His beloved Son, and the pledge and 
token of the grace to be annexed to the baptism which 
He was to institute. The baptism of John was a peni- 
tential rite, emblematic of the purification of the repentant 
sinner ; and it served as a preparation for Him who was 
to come, who should baptize in the Holy Ghost. The 
explanation given by the Apostle was followed by the ad- 
ministration of christian baptism : " Having heard these 
things they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."* 
The attempt of some to refer this to the baptism of John, 
as if they were the words of Paul, rather than of the sacred 
historian, is too destitute of all plausibility to deserve refu- 
tation; especially as the sacred writer immediately adds, 
that Paul imposed hands on them, thus identifying the 
persons baptized with those who received the imposition 
of hands.t 

* Acts xix. 5. 

j- Gilbert, in his excellent : Tracts on Baptism, p. 21, handles this 
argument with great ability. Dr. Pusey happily exposes the absurdity 
of the exposition of the text invented by Marnix, and adopted by 



BAPTISM OF JOHN. 21 

It may be useful to show how the ancients understood 
the words of the sacred text. 

Tertullian observes : "In the Acts of the Apostles 
we find, that those who had the baptism of John, had not 
received the Holy Ghost, of whom they had not even 
heard : therefore it was not heavenly, since it did not im- 
part heavenly things."* St. Optatus says : " No one had 
been baptized in the Trinity : no one had yet known Christ : 
no one had heard of the Holy Ghost : the baptism of John 
was different from the baptism of Christ. Paul said : In 
what baptism have you been baptized? And they said: 
John's. He persuaded them to receive the baptism of 
Christ."! The motive of the second baptism is justly 
stated by St. Augustin to have been no other than the 
difference between that of John and that of Christ: " We 
read," he says, "in the Acts of the Apostles, that those 
were baptized by Paul who had already been baptized by 
John for no other reason but because the baptism of John 
was not the baptism of Christ."J These testimonies show 

Beza, and many reformed and Lutheran writers : " When scripture 
says, < they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when 
Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and 
ihey spake with tongues, and prophesied. And all the men were 
about twelve :' < they' in the first place means all who in Judea re- 
ceived John's baptism, and in the second, the twelve only who were 
at Ephesus ; so that scripture does not mean that St. Paul laid his 
hands on the same persons who had been baptized, for these were, 
according to this exposition, all John's disciples, but that it does 
mean, that St. Paul laid his hands upon these twelve, as having been 
some of those formerly baptized by John : and this though scripture 
adds, 'And all the men were about twelve.' " Tract on Baptism, 
p. 214. * Lib. de Bapt. 

f L. v. contra Parmenian. * L. v. de Bapt. c. ix. 



22 BAPTISM OF JOHN. 

the sense which the sacred text naturally presented to 
minds unbiassed by the controversies of modern times. 

The distinction between the two baptisms is broadly 
stated by these ancient writers, on the authority of the 
divine scriptures: "The baptism of penance," Tertul- 
lian observes, " was given as the disposition for the forgive- 
ness and sanctification which were to ensue in Christ: 
for the baptism of penance for the remission of sins which 
he preached, was announced for the future remission : 
since penance precedes, remission follows ; and this is to 
prepare the way : he that prepares, does not himself per- 
fect, but leaves the perfecting to another."* St. Jerom 
calls attention to the preparatory and imperfect character 
of the baptism of John, and appeals to the divine writings : 
" Hear what the scriptures teach: the baptism of John did 
not remit sins, but was a baptism of penance for the remis- 
sion of sins, that is the future remission, which was after- 
wards to come by the sanctification of Christ. "t St. 
Athanasius, explaining the words of the Baptist, ob- 
serves : " That expression, ' He will baptize you in the 
Holy Ghost,' means that He will purify you : inasmuch as 
this could not be effected by the baptism of John, but by 
that of Christ, who has power even to forgive sins."f 
St. Basil, urging catechumens to hasten to the font, puts 
before them the anxiety of the Jews to receive the bap- 
tism of John as an example worthy of their imitation, and 
shows how much more excellent christian baptism is : 
"John preached a baptism of penance, and all Judea went 
forth to him : the Lord proclaims a baptism, whereby we 
are adopted as children of God, and who is there that hopes 

* Lib. de Bapt. f Dial. adv. Lucifer. 

\ Ex. Serm.f sive Coram, in Matih. 



BAPTISM OF JOHN. 23 

in Him, who will refuse to receive it? That baptism was 
of an introductory character : this perfects the receiver ; 
that separated from sin: this unites with God. The 
preaching of John was of one man, and yet it drew all to 
penance : you are taught by the prophets : « Wash your- 
selves, be clean;' you are admonished by the psalmist: 
' Come ye to Him, and be enlightened ;' you hear the glad 
tidings from the Apostles : ' Do penance and be baptized 
each one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for 
the remission of your sins, and you will receive the pro- 
mise of the Holy Ghost;' you are invited by the Lord 
himself: 'Come to me, all you that labour, and are bur- 
thened, and I shall refresh you ;' and yet you tarry, and 
deliberate, and delay."* 

The grace of the Holy Ghost is declared by the Fathers, 
on the divine authority of scripture, to be peculiar to chris- 
tian baptism. Tertullian, speaking of the baptism of 
John, observes, that though it was heavenly, inasmuch as 
he was divinely sent, it was not heavenly in its effects, 
since "it would give the Holy Ghost and the remission of 
sins, if it were heavenly. He declares that he baptizes 
unto penance only, and that there would shortly come one 
who would baptize in the Spirit."! St. Chrysostom says : 
" The grace of the Holy Ghost is in the baptism of Christ : 
but the baptism of John is destitute of this gift. "J St. 
Gregory, of Nazianzum, writes: "John baptized, no 
longer indeed after the manner of the Jews, for it was not 
merely in water, but unto penance : and yet not altogether 
spiritually ; for he does not add : in the Spirit. Jesus also 
baptizes, but in the Spirit: for this is the perfection. "§ 

* Horn. xiii. in S. Baptisma. \ De Bapt. 

i Horn. xi. in c. iii. Matt. § Orat. xxxix. 



24 BAPTISM OF JOHN. 

Calvin confesses that the Fathers distinguish the two 
baptisms, and contemptuously rejects their authority, on 
the pretext that it is opposed to scripture : " Let no one be 
disturbed at the attempt of the ancients to distinguish one 
from the other, since their opinions should not be looked 
on of such importance as to weaken the certainty of scrip- 
ture."* 

The proper view of the baptism of John is that given by 
St. John Damascene : " The baptism of John was intro- 
ductory, and it led the persons that were baptized to pen- 
ance, that they might believe in Christ. For I, said he, 
baptize you in water; but he that shall come after me, 
shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and in fire. There- 
fore John purified previously for the Spirit : but we are 
baptized with the perfect baptism of Christ, by water and 
the Spirit."! The same view is constantly presented by 
Tertullian : " We recognize John as a kind of limit esta- 
blished between the old and new dispensations, in whom 
Judaism should terminate, and from whom Christianity 
should begin. "J 

In thus appealing to the Fathers I ask nothing but what 
must be conceded by every rational inquirer. I rest not on 
their authority ; but in examining the nature of this an- 
cient rite, and its relation to the initiatory rite of Christian- 
ity, the judgment and testimony of ancient christian writers, 
most of whom held high stations in the church, must have 
weight. They had in their hands the sacred books, and 
were acquainted with the public doctrine of the church. 
Their proximity to the apostolic times, and their utter 
estrangement from the controversies which are now agi- 

* Inst, 1. iv. c. xiv. 7. | L. iv. de fide orthodoxa. 

i L. iv. contra Marcian, c. xxxiii. 



BAPTISM OF JOHN. 25 

tated, must recommend their calm testimony to our serious 
consideration. "In what depends on testimony," the 
learned critic George Campbell observes, " they are in 
every case wherein no particular passion can be suspected 
to have swayed them, to be preferred before modern inter* 
preters or annotators. 1 say not this to insinuate that we 
can rely more on their integrity, but to signify that many 
points were with them a subject of testimony, which with 
modern critics are matter merely of conjecture, or, at most, 
of abstruse and critical discussion. It is only from ancient 
authors that those ancient usages, in other things as well as 
in language, can be discovered by us, which to them stood 
on the footing of matters of fact, whereof they could not be 
ignorant."* 

According to the Fathers there is a manifest distinction 
made in the scriptures between the baptism by John and 
that which Christ instituted. Both are in water; but 
christian baptism is the instrument of the Holy Spirit for 
the regeneration of the soul, and is made in the name of the 
three Divine Persons, whilst the baptism by John was an 
incentive to penance, and a symbol of the purification of 
the penitent, without the express invocation of the Trinity. 
Nor need we be moved by the observation of Enoch Lewis : 
" It is strange," says he, that nothing appears in their (the 
Apostles) history to show that they accompanied the act 
with a declaration that it was done in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."t For us 

* The Four Gospels translated from the Greek, with Prelim, Diss* 
by George Campbell, D. D., Principal of Marischal College, and one 
of the Ministers of Aberdeen, Diss. iv. p. 112. 

f Essay on Baptism, p. 29. 

3 



26 BAPTISM OF JOHN. 

it is sufficient to know, that they were commanded to bap- 
tize in this way: for surely they fulfilled the injunction. 

To confound things so clearly distinguished in the divine 
scripture is to set at naught its authority, whilst professing ! 
to revere it. The christian who adheres to its teaching, 
regards the baptism of John as a preparatory rite, adopted 
for a time, to express the purity of soul with which Christ 
should be received when He should publicly manifest him- 
self. When He came, John gladly saw the multitudes 
flock to Him to receive His baptism. "This my joy, 
therefore," he said, "is fulfilled. He must increase, but 1 
must decrease."* From the time of its institution it alone 
was to be sought after, and its nature, qualities, and effects 
are to be determined, not by reference to the baptism of 
John, but by those divine testimonies which specially 
regard the christian institution. 

* John iii. 29. 



27 



CHAPTER II. 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 



The " Friends," as I have already stated, maintain that 
^Christian baptism is the interior purification and sanctifi- 
cation which the Spirit of God effects, without any ex- 
ternal ablution. Barclay, the celebrated Apologist of the 
^Quakers, states their principles on this head in the 
following terms : " As there is one Lord, and one faith, 
iso there is one baptism : which is not the putting away the 
J filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience be- 
fore God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this 
baptism is a pure and spiritual thing, to wit, the baptism 
of the Spirit and fire, by which we are buried with Him, 
that being washed and purged from our sins, we may walk 
in newness of life, of which the baptism of John was a 
figure, which was commanded for a time, and not to con- 
tinue for ever."* 

Inasmuch as "the Friends" appeal to the inward revela- 
tions of the Spirit as the formal object of faith, and refuse 
to subject them to the test of the outward testimony of the 
'Scriptures, although they contend that these divine reve- 
lations neither do, nor even can, contradict this outward 
testimony ;t there is little ground for hoping to convince 
them by an appeal to the Sacred Writings. Yet must we 
not on this account abandon the proofs which are abun- 

* Prop. xii. Theses Theologies \ Prop. ii. 



28 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 

dantly furnished us in the pages of the New Testament, 
of the divine institution of baptism by water. These pas- 
sages will confirm the faith of believers, and may enlighten 
many, who have never considered them with attention, and 
serve to show how great is the delusion of those who resist 
evidence so striking. Barclay himself lays down the 
Scriptures as a ground whereon the Friends are ready to 
meet their adversaries, and admits the maxim that " what- 
soever any do, pretending to the Spirit, which is contrary 
to the Scriptures, be accounted and reckoned a delusion of 
the devil."* "Strange reasoning!" justly exclaims Frederick 
Lucas, the distinguished convert: " The Scripture is too 
uncertain and doubtful to be the rule itself, but it is, never- 
theless, the test of the application of the more perfect 
rule."t 

The literal and obvious meaning of the term " baptize," 
is acknowledged to be, to plunge in water ', or, in its modi- 
fied acceptation, to wash in some way : but, like other 
terms, it is sometimes used figuratively. Thus to be over- 
whelmed with affliction, is in Scriptural style to be bap- 
tized : " I have a baptism," said Christ, to represent the 
greatness of his sufferings, "wherewith I am to be bap- 
tized, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished. "J 
It is used also to express the pouring out and communica- 
tion of the gifts of the Holy Ghost : " You shall be bap- 
tized with the Holy Ghost,"§ said He to his Apostles, 
consoling them with the assurance of the communication 

* Prop. iii. §. 6. 

f " Reasons for becoming a Roman Catholic, addressed to the So- 
ciety of Friends, by Frederick Lucas, Esq., of the Middle Temple, 
Barrister at Law, London. 

i Luke xii. 50. § Acts i. 5. 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 29 

of the divine gifts on the day of Pentecost. It naturally 
expresses a washing with water : yet figuratively it was 
said by John of Christ: "He shall baptize you in the 
Holy Ghost and fire :"* to indicate the divine influence on 
the heart, whereby the love of God is excited, and earthly 
affections are consumed : the external emblems whereof 
were seen in the tongues of fire reposing on the Apostles 
when the Holy Ghost descended. " What means," cries 
St. Chrysostom, "in the Holy Ghost and fire? Call to 
mind that day whereon tongues as of fire appeared divided 
on the Apostles, and sat on each one of them."t These 
figurative meanings being acknowledged, it becomes im- 
portant to know, by what rule the signification of the com- 
mand to baptize is determined. " The Friends" say, that 
the baptism of the Spirit, and not any external ablution is 
meant in the commission, and that the precursor declared 
that his external washing of the body was to give place to 
this invisible baptism: "I baptize in water" — said he to 
the multitudes: — "he it is that baptizeth with the Holy 
Ghost."J We, on the contrary, maintain, that as to bap- 
tize, in its natural and usual meaning, is, to wash with 
water, it must be so understood in a solemn commission, 
since words are used in their obvious sense on occasions 
of this character. The humility of the Precursor leads 
him to declare, that he only performs a mere external ab- 
lution, whilst all sanctifying influence comes from Christ. 
The grace received by the penitent whom he baptized, was 
the gift of Him who baptizes in the Holy Ghost. Thus in 
the very baptism of John the external rite was distinguish- 
ed from the grace granted to penitence on occasion of its 

* Matt. Hi. 11. f De Bapt Christi horn. 

+ John i. 26, 33. 
3* 



30 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 

ministration. Between that baptism and the baptism in- 
stituted by Christ, there exists an immense distance, since 
John's baptism was a mere ablution with water, having 
no inherent efficacy; whilst Christ baptizes in the Holy 
Ghost, using the water only as the emblem and instrument 
of his grace. In contrasting the two rites, water is men- 
tioned in the first place as constituting altogether the rite 
which John performed ; and is afterwards omitted, that the 
excellence of the baptism of Christ may alone be consi- 
dered in the divine effects which it produces. This by no 
means excludes water, which is elsewhere positively spe- 
cified, and which is naturally included in the idea of bap- 
tizing. Had we nothing to argue from but this text, we 
might hesitate ; but it is fair to supply what is here omitted 
by the many other texts wherein water is mentioned as the 
element used in Christian baptism. 

Christ is said to baptize with the Holy Ghost, because 
his power is invisibly employed in sanctifying the soul ; 
but he cannot be supposed to command the Apostles to 
baptize in this way, since they can exert no divine power. 
They can only perform some external act, to which a cer- 
tain virtue may be divinely annexed : but they cannot 
directly operate on the soul ; so that to order them to bap- 
tize, in the sense of purifying the soul by an immediate 
invisible influence, is to enjoin that which is utterly beyond 
their power, and which is the exclusive prerogative of the 
God-man, whose ministers they are. The words, then, 
in which he addressed the apostles cannot be so interpreted : 
Go, teach all nations, sanctifying them by the Holy Spirit. 
This cannot even be referred to a divine influence attend- 
ing their preaching ; since this influence was not theirs, 
and they could not be ordered to impart it. It must neces- 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 31 

sarily proceed immediately from a divine source. There 
is no parity in the example of miraculous operations ; be- 
cause the external act is done by the agent, and the Divine 
power makes it efficacious ; but baptizing in the Spirit is 
a purely internal act, necessarily Divine, and cannot be 
enjoined on men. They might be directed to instruct men, 
and a divine blessing might be promised to their labors : 
but they could not be called on to give the Holy Ghost, 
by internally communicating His influence, which must 
wholly depend on God. Had Christ meant to employ the 
term " baptize" to express the operation of the Holy 
Ghost on the mind, he might have said : " Go, teach my 
doctrine in all nations, and I will baptize them unto the 
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;" but he could 
not direct them to baptize in this sense. No where is it 
said that the Apostles baptized in the Holy Ghost, although 
Cornelius was thus baptized whilst Peter was speaking. 
The natural force of the term employed in this solemn com- 
mission must, then, be retained, since the figurative appli- 
cation of it is totally inconsistent with the circumstances 
in which it was used, and the persons to whom it was ad- 
dressed. In its obvious sense every thing is plain and 
harmonious. The Jews were accustomed to divers wash- 
ings with water.* John had baptized with water on re- 
ceiving to penance the multitudes that flocked to his 
preaching. The disciples of Christ, in accordance with 
his will, had been accustomed for some time to perform 
the same ablution to such of their countrymen as applied 
for it. When, then, He said, " Go, teach all nations, 
baptizing them," they were necessarily led to understand 
Him as ordering them to wash in like manner all, without 

* Heb. ix. 10. 



32 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 

discrimination of nations, and thus to initiate them into his 
Church. The command is to do unto the nations gene- 
rally, what they had hitherto performed within the limits 
of Judea : to instruct them, and to baptize them : and the 
rite of baptism, as well as the teaching, is to continue to 
the end of time.*' 

Whenever the term " baptize" is qualified by other 
words, a secondary, or figurative, meaning may be attached 
to it, as when John says of Christ: "He shall baptize 
you in the Holy Ghost and fire ;"t and Christ promises to 
his Apostles : " You shall be baptized with the Holy 
Ghost not many days hence. "J All occasion of mistake 
is removed, and the secondary meaning is fixed and de- 

* Barclay objects that the washing of the feet is neglected, although 
enjoined apparently in stronger terms than baptism ; and Judge Rush 
admits the force of the objection, and complains that " the Catholics 
and nearly all the Protestant churches in Christendom have conspired 
to lay it {the washing) aside." An Inquiry into the doctrine of 
Christian Baptism, by Jacob Rush, Presiding Judge of the first 
judicial district of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1819. But there is 
no foundation for the reproach to Catholics, nor for the objection. 
The rite is practised at Rome on Holy Thursday, by the Sovereign 
Pontiff, who washes the feet of thirteen Priests ; in many dioceses, as 
at St. Louis, by the Bishop ; and in religious communities generally 
by the Abbot, or other Superior. It is prescribed in the Roman Missal 
among the rites of Holy Thursday, and may be practised in every 
church. Yet there is no divine command for this ceremony. The 
words of our Saviour are evidently meant to insinuate and recommend 
mutual kindness and humility; and the persuasion and practice of 
the Church are sure guarantees that the act was not commanded. On 
the contrary, the declarations concerning baptism are explicit ; and 
the practice of the Apostles, and of the Church, leaves no room for 
explaining away their force. 

j Matt. iii. 11. % Acts i. 5. 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 33 

fined by the terms added : but when the word is simply 
and absolutely used, every just rule of interpretation re- 
quires that we should understand it in its natural and ordi- 
nary meaning. The Apostles were led by the promise of 
Christ to expect the Divine influence of the Holy Spirit, 
to be exercised on them in an extraordinary manner : and 
the miracles of Pentecost surpassed their expectations. 
The communication of the divine gifts to others may also 
be styled a baptism of the Holy Ghost, since Peter ap- 
plies the promise to Cornelius and his family, who were 
supernaturally sanctified.* But what pretext can be de- 
rived from expressions thus qualified in order to force on 
the term, when used alone, a meaning which is foreign and 
figurative ?t 

Barclay contends that the spiritual character of the bap- 
tism of Christ is declared by the words subjoined: " aj to 
vvofia, that is, into the Name : now the Name of the Lord 
is often taken in scripture for something else than a bare 
sound of words, or literal expression even for his virtue 
and power, as may appear from Psalm liv. 3, Cant. i. 3, 
Prov. xviii. 10, and in many more. Now that the Apos- 
tles were by their ministry to baptize the nations into this 
name, virtue and power, and that they did so, is evident by 
these testimonies of Paul, where he saith, that as many of 

* Actsxi. 16. 

-j- Smith Travers says, that the baptism of which Christ speaks is 
the gift of tongues ! " Multum examinans, multum conferens, judi- 
cavi <to ^otpttf^a ytaofftfcw, baptisma esse, de quo locutus erat Dominus; 
atque alia ^apK^arU, etiam postea comprehendi." Disquisitionem 
de Sac, S, de Baptismate. Philadelphia, 1820. Such is the capri- 
cious mode of interpretation adopted by those who reject Catholic 
authority. 



34 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 

them as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ."* 
This observation, however, does not affect the necessity of i 
the ablution with water, which is implied in the command 
to baptize ; for waiving the literary inquiry whether the 
accusative form be a Hebraism,! or designate the end for 
which the ablution is made, it is certain that christian bap- 
tism is a work of divine power, consecrating to the adorable 
Trinity those who receive it, and clothing them with Christ, 
by the communication of his merits. This interferes not 
with the ablution, or the invocation of the three Divine 
Persons, whose name is invoked, that their power may 
effect the sanctification indicated by the external act. The 
end, or effect, of the act being declared, necessarily presup- 
poses the reality of the act itself. No parallel passage can 
be alleged, wherein the name of God is added to take away 
the natural and obvious meaning of a preceding term. The 
baptizing with the Holy Ghost is nowhere called a bap- 
tizing unto the name of God : so that this is a forced and 
gratuitous wresting of the words. The interpretation of 
some moderns, who explain the whole passage of a mere 
initiation into Christianity by instruction in its truths, is 

* Apol. Prop. xii. p. 376. 

\ ¥.1$ 'to bvofxa ju» is used to express the assembly convened under 
the invocation of Christ. Matt, xviii. 20. Alexander Campbell, in 
Christian Baptist, vol. vi. p. 522, maintains that there is a great dif- 
ference between immersing in the name, and into the name, the former 
mode of expression denoting the authority whereby the act was per- 
formed, the latter the object for which it is performed: but the exam- 
ple just adduced shows that these propositions are not always used 
with this nice discrimination. In the narrative of the conversion of 
Cornelius and his family, it is said that Peter ordered them to be bap- 
tized in fi the name oi' the Lord, Acts x. 48, which surely is equiva- 
lent to what is said elsewhere of the disciples at Ephesus, who were 
baptized into si$ the name of the Lord Jesus. Acts \ix. 5. 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 35 

equally unsupported by parallel passages, and does equal 
1 violence to the text, which points out baptism as the means 
of initiation. The liberty which the sacred writers use in 
f speaking of baptism as conferred in the name or unto the 
name of the Lord Jesus, only shows that baptism makes 
us His disciples, as well as worshippers of His Father 
and of the Holy Ghost, and that it is conferred by His 
authority, and in virtue of His institution. There is 
nothing to warrant us in regarding the baptism as a 
mere internal operation ; but on the contrary the external 
act is plainly and positively declared. It is said of the 
Samaritans that they were baptized in the name of Jesus,* 
by Philip, who no doubt used water for that purpose, as 
well as in the case of the eunuch, which baptism was re- 
ceived even by Simon Magus : and the disciples at Ephe- 
sus are stated to have been baptized in the name of Jesus,t 
after they had been instructed by Paul, who, afterwards, by 
the imposition of hands and prayer, communicated to them 
the Holy Ghost. 

When Nicodemus approached Christ, to learn from Him 
the truths of salvation, our Redeemer at once solemnly de- 
clared the necessity of a new birth, in order to enter into 
| the kingdom of God : " Amen, amen I say to thee, unless 
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. "J 
This excited the astonishment, and provoked the curiosity 
of the Jewish ruler. Attaching himself to the most literal 
meaning of the words, without having regard to the style 
of the Jews, who were wont to call the baptism of a Gen- 
tile proselyte a new birth, § inasmuch as he became a mem- 



* Acts viii. 16. j Ibidem xix. 5. $ John iii. 3. 

§ See Calmet, Dissertation sur It bapteme de Jean; also Wall* 
History of Infant Baptism, Introduction. 



36 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 

ber of the Jewish nation, Nicodemus asked, how could a 
man in old age be born anew ; and as it was naturally im- 
possible for him to be so born, he intimated that even 
a new birth, by an entire change of sentiment and con- 
duct, was morally impracticable. In reply our Lord said : 
" Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of 
water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the king- 
dom of God."* The manner of the new birth is here spe- 
cified: it is by water i even as that was which, in an en- 
larged sense, was styled a new birth, the incorporation of 
a Gentile with the Jewish nation : but it is also by the 
Holy Ghost, and therefore it is truly a new birth, because 
His divine influence purifies and sanctifies him who is 
washed, and makes him truly a child of God. He was 
before a carnal man, born in a natural way of earthly 
parents : he is now a spiritual being, living by faith : " that 
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born 
of the Spirit, is spirit. Wonder not, that I said to thee, 
you must be born again. "t The sanctifying influence of 
this Divine Spirit is the free exercise of His sovereign 
bounty ; and is oftentimes experienced by those who are 
unconscious of the divine source of their sentiments and 
feelings : " The Spirit breatheth where he will ; and thou 
hearest his voice, but thou knowest not whence he cometh 
or whither he goeth : so is every one that is born of the 
Spirit."^ The child of God, born of the Spirit in the bap- 

* John iii. 5. f Ibidem 6, 7. 

+ Ibidem 8. The Protestant version renders this : " The wind blow- 
eth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof." According 
to this a comparison is instituted between the uncertain and change- 
able motions of the wind, and the secret operations of the Spirit of 
God. The Fathers understand the whole of the Divine Spirit him- 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 37 

tisinal laver, continues to receive the divine inspirations, 
without knowing their origin, in a sensible and manifest 
manner. In this context there is nothing to warrant a de- 
parture from the obvious meaning of the term water, used 
in speaking of the new birth ; or to establish a birth of the 
Spirit, so as to exclude water, as the instrument and sign 
of regeneration. 

Nevertheless, not only the followers of George Fox 
have interpreted the words of Christ without reference to 
baptism ; but Calvin himself, although admitting the use of 
t water in baptizing, has employed his ingenuity in explain- 
ing away their obvious meaning. He maintains that water 
is mentioned in connexion with the Holy Spirit, as fire in 
another passage in similar connexion, to indicate His effects 
on the soul, which He purifies and inflames** But the 
i passages are not parallel. In the text which we bring for- 
( ward, Christ is explaining to Nicodemus the new birth, the 
necessity whereof He had already declared. When Nico- 
| demus had addressed Him, professing his conviction that 
He was a teacher divinely sent, Christ said: "Amen, 
I amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot 
i see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus asked how a man 
could be born again : " How can a man be born when he is 



self, which is in harmony with the whole context. The wind cannot 
be said to will. 

* Inst. 1. iv. c. xvi. n, 25. In this, as well as in man)'' other re- 
spects, this bold innovator has undermined the foundations of Chris- 
tianity. Mr. McLean, a Baptist writer, admits that this text has refer- 
ence to baptism : " Water here undoubtedly means the water of baptism, 
for it is distinguished from the Spirit; so that to be born of water is to 
be baptized." — "Thus this passage, John iii. 5, and Tit. iii. 5, were 
universally understood till the days of Calvin." Commission, p. 13 L 

4 



I 



38 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 

old ? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, 
and be born again ?" The answer of our Lord is explana- 
tory of this difficulty : " Amen, amen I say to thee, unless 
a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he can- 
not enter into the kingdom of God." Water is distinctly 
and emphatically mentioned, when the object manifestly 
was to explain the manner of this birth : it is not mentioned 
after the Holy Ghost, as the emblem of his purifying influ- 
ence, in the way fire is elsewhere connected with him : 
" he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire :" 
but it is distinctly and primarily mentioned as the obvious 
and external means of the second birth, which is effected 
by the power of the Holy Ghost. The mention of water 
in this place was useless, and calculated to lead into error, 
if no such instrument of regeneration was meant. The 
subsequent verses, as we have already seen, do not weaken 
the force of this explicit declaration. 

It should suffice to put to silence the authors and sup- 
porters of this new interpretation, to know, as Hooker tes- 
tifies, " that of all the ancients there is not one to be named 
that ever did otherwise either expound or allege the place, 
than as implying external baptism."* Dr. Pusey observes : 
" However men may think that the words do not require 
this interpretation, they will readily admit that it is an ob- 
vious, perhaps (apart from other considerations) the more 
obvious meaning; add, then, to this, that the christian 
church uniformly, for fifteen centuries, interpreted these 
His words of baptism ; that on the ground of this text 
alone, they urged the necessity of baptism ; that, upon it, 
mainly, they identified regeneration with baptism. If, then, 
this be an error, would our Saviour have used words which 
* L. v. c. 59. 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 39 

(since water was already used in the Jews' and John's bap- 
tism) must inevitably and did lead His church into error ? 
and which He, who knew all things, must, at the time, 
have known would lead His church into error; and that, 
when, according to Zuingli's or Calvin's interpretation, His 
meaning had been as fully expressed, had it stood, ' born 
of the Spirit,' only."* 

Unless, in the interpretation of the sacred scriptures, we 
admit, I shall not say the authority of the church, but the 
ordinary rules of explaining books from the context and 
parallel passages, they become of no use whatsoever, since 
their most evident testimony may be rejected, on the plea 
that it does not harmonize with the internal teaching of the 
Spirit. The appeal to this immediate revelation throws 
open the gate for enthusiasm and fanaticism of the wildest 
and worst character, and deprives us of every standard for 
discriminating between the teaching of God, and the vaga- 
ries of a disordered imagination. For the man who fancies 
himself internally enlightened and instructed in the revela- 
tion of God, all proof and argument are powerless and 
vain : and the only hope left is in humble prayer, that God 
would vouchsafe to remedy that delusion, and make him 
sensible of the need in which he stands to be taught by 
those to whom the divine scriptures and the whole deposit 
of revelation have been entrusted. 

* Tract on Baptism, p. 39, Am. ed. 



40 



CHAPTER III. 



APOSTOLIC PRACTICE. 



When the meaning of a commission is called in ques- 
tion, the public acts of those who received it, must have 
great weight in determining its nature and character : and 
when the authority of the commissioners is vouched for 
by him who gave the commission, their acts are decisive 
evidence. Christ ordered his disciples to baptize. An 
attempt is made to explain this of a mere internal work of 
the Spirit, towards which the Apostles could co-operate no 
further than by preaching. Did the Apostles themselves 
so understand it ? Did they not rather conceive themselves 
authorized and commanded to wash with water those who 
professed faith in the Gospel preached by them ? When 
the Jews felt compunction for the death of Christ, and asked 
of Peter what they should do to be saved, he exhorted 
them to be baptized ; and three thousand persons on that 
occasion were added by baptism to the Church. From 
the baptism of three thousand persons in one day, it might 
be pretended that it was only figurative, and consisted in 
the grace of the Spirit being poured out on them, when 
they received the words of Peter ; but they were already 
touched with compunction, when they inquired of him 
what they should do that they might be saved, and when 
told: "let every one of you be baptized," they were ne- 
cessarily led to understand the command of a washing with 



APOSTOLIC PRACTICE. 41 

water, since this was the received acceptation of the term. 
The use of water by the Apostles on several occasions is 
admitted by the opponents of baptism: "It is freely ad- 
mitted," says Enoch Lewis, " that the Apostles, after our 
Lord's ascension, did sometimes baptize their converts with 
water:"* but any possibility of cavil on this point is pre- 
cluded by the positive declaration of St. Peter, when Cor- 
nelius was to be baptized: "Can any man forbid water, 
that these should not be baptized, who have received the 
Holy Ghost as well as we ? And he commanded them to 
be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."t On 
this fact, St. Cyril, of Jerusalem, remarks: "Cornelius 
was a just man, favored with angelic visions, whose prayers 
and alms were like a high pillar erected in the heavens 
reaching unto God ; Peter came, and the Spirit was poured 
out on the believers, and they spoke with strange tongues, 
and prophesied, and after the gift of the Spirit, the Scrip- 
ture says, that Peter commanded them to be baptized in 
the name of Jesus Christ : that the soul being born anew 
by faith, the body also might receive grace by the water. "J 
The Eunuch learned from Philip the necessity of this ab- 
lution with water. " See, here is water, what doth hinder 
me from being baptized ?"§ Ananias called to Saul: 
" Rise up, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins."|| 
The Apostle himself constantly speaks of baptism as a 
laver. Christ loved the Church, " cleansing it by the laver 
of water."lf It was, then, the persuasion of those who 
received the commission, and of those who were associated 
with them in its execution, that they were empowered to 

* Essay on Baptism, p. 35. \ Acts x. 47. 

* Cat. iii. de Bapt. § Acts viii. 36. 
|| Actsxxii. 16. f Eph. v. 26. 

4* 



42 APOSTOLIC PRACTICE. 

perform an ablution with water. To say, as Barclay in- 
sinuates, that the Apostles mistook the meaning of their 
Master, is destructive of the certainty of Christian faith, 
and is irreverent to Him, who, in that supposition, ill pro- 
vided for the correct manifestation of his will to men. Who 
can read without horror the language of this Apologist ? 
" Although it should be granted, that for a season they did 
so far mistake it as to judge that water belonged to that 
baptism, (which, however, I find no necessity of granting,) 
yet I see not any great absurdity would thence follow. For 
it is plain they did mistake that commission, as to a main 
part of it."* 

Joseph John Gurney, a recent writer on the same sub- 
ject, has not hesitated to say that the Apostles were unpre- 
pared for the perfect spirituality of the Christian dispensa- 
tion, although the germs of it were in their hearts: "As 
long as they observed the ceremonies of the law in their 
own persons — -as long as they continued unprepared for a 
full reception of the doctrine, that the ordinances and sha- 
dows of the law were now to be disused, and that God 
was to be worshipped in a manner entirely spiritual — so 
long would they, as a matter of course, persevere in the 
practice of baptizing their converts in water ."t 

The practice of the Jewish ceremonies by the Apostles, 
and the doubt raised as to the admissibility of the Gentiles 
to the privileges of the Church, and their subjection to the 
Mosaic ceremonial, are alleged by Barclay and by Gurney, 
in proof of their having mistaken the commission, and not 
understood fully the spiritual character of the Christian 
dispensation: but there is no evidence whatever of such 

* Prop. xii. Object. 

\ Observations on the Religious Peculiarities of Friends, p. 1 00. 



APOSTOLIC PRACTICE. 43 

misconception. The renitence of Peter to eat of meats 
legally unclean, when presented to him in vision, was a 
natural result of long habits of legal observance, and the 
command given him not to designate as unclean what God 
had sanctified, was not so much to enlighten him with re- 
gard to the admissibility of the Gentiles to the Church, as 
it was to enable him to defend their admission against the 
converts from Judaism, whose prejudices might lead them 
to condemn it: whence he appealed to those who accom- 
panied him : " Can any one forbid water, that these should 
not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well 
as we ?"* In observing the legal ceremonies, the Apostles 
conformed to the will of their Divine Teacher, who him- 
self observed them, and wished them to be respected, 
although they were to be discontinued as soon as the amal- 
gamation of Jews and Gentiles in one Church suffered 
their discontinuance, without prejudice to their original in- 
stitution. The Gentiles were authoritatively declared by 
the Apostles to be free from the yoke of the law, both in 
the council of Jerusalem and in the epistles of St. Paul ; 
and the conduct of Cephas, in withdrawing from the com- 
mon table, was an act of condescension to Jewish prejudice, 
unattended with any false teaching. The retention of some 

I ceremonial observances for a time did not arise from any 
imperfect conception of the spiritual character of the Chris- 
tian dispensation, much less from any positive error ; but 

| from considerations of prudence, and a necessary regard 
to their divine origin. It is impossible to consider water 
baptism as one of them, since it is no where prescribed in 
the Mosaic law. Whatever may be thought of the baptism 
of John, baptism is simply and absolutely an institution of 

* Acts x. 47. 



44 APOSTOLIC PRACTICE. 

Christ himself, since he commanded it, and prescribed the 
form of words that should distinguish it. His promise to 
be with the Apostles, baptizing and teaching, is a pledge 
and guarantee that they should be directed by Him for the 
proper performance of each duty, and does not suffer us for 
a moment to think that they should have administered a 
baptism which He did not institute. As then the fact is 
manifest from the Scriptures, and conceded by the Friends, 
that the Apostles did baptize with water, the conclusion is 
irresistible that water baptism is of divine institution. Who- 
soever says that they misunderstood the intentions of 
Christ, or that they were unprepared for the full develop- 
ment of the spiritual character of the New Covenant, makes 
void the promise of Christ to be with them, to send them 
the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, to teach them all truth ; 
and thus overturns the whole fabric of Christianity. 

The words of St. Paul to the Corinthians are alleged, to 
show that baptism with water is no part of the Christian 
dispensation, and that if permitted for a time, and useful 
to lead the Jews, who had been accustomed to external 
rites, to the knowledge of the mysteries of faith, it was in 
no way suited to the Gentiles, and but rarely practised, and 
that the Apostle regretted having adopted the practice even 
for a time : " I give God thanks, that I baptized none of 
you, but Crispus and Caius : lest any should say that you 
were baptized in my name. And I baptized also the house- 
hold of Stephanus : besides, I know not w r hether I bap- 
tized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to 
preach the gospel."* The inferences drawn from this pas- 
sage are altogether unwarranted. The Apostle spoke in 
reference to their personal partialities for their teachers, 

* 1 Cor. i. 14. 



APOSTOLIC PRACTICE. 45 

which were an occasion of schism ; and he reminded them, 
that they were disciples of Christ, and not of the indi- 
vidual who brought them to the knowledge of salvation, 
or received them into the Church by baptism. " Is 
Christ," he asks, "divided? Was Paul then crucified 
for you ? or were you baptized in the name of Paul ?"* 
He rejoices that he had baptized but few of them, because 
there was so much the less reason to fear that they would 
cling to him as a leader, to the detriment of the unity which 
they should cherish in Christ : and he states that the chiet 
object of his vocation was to preach the gospel, to bear the 
name of Christ before the Gentiles, and their kings, and 
the children of Israel. In calling him to the faith, Christ 
wished the converted persecutor to become an illustrious 
witness of his divinity, that Jews and Gentiles might be 
led by his testimony and example to believe and to adore. 
He was, doubtless, commissioned to baptize, as all the 
Apostles were positively ordered by Christ himself; and 
he actually baptized several among the Corinthians ; but 
he generally left the performance of that duty to others. It 
was not a rite of rare performance, since it was the gate of 
the Church, and all who bore the Christian name had en- 
tered thereby. The Apostle addresses all the Corinthians 
as baptized persons, and reminds them that they had not 
been baptized in his name: "Were you baptized in the 
name of Paul ? " In one Spirit were we all baptized into 
one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or 
free."t This cannot be wrested to signify a mere internal 
baptism, as by it all were made " one body," being aggre- 
gated to the Church. All foundation for the assertion that 
the rite was used in condescension to the Jews, is taken 

* 1 Cor. i. 13. f 1 Cor. xii. 13. 



46 APOSTOLIC PRACTICE. 

away by this passage, which is directed to Gentile con- 
verts, and declares that all of them had been baptized. In 
vain is it pretended that baptism with water is not implied 
in the term baptize. The Apostle evidently speaks of 
their unity as a body, which is effected by baptism, where- 
in they are born of water and of the Holy Ghost. 

But we are asked where is the proof that the Apostles 
themselves were baptized with water? If they were, it 
must have been, it is said, with the baptism of John, since 
Christ baptized no one. Of the baptism of Paul himself 
we have positive testimony. That the other Apostles were 
baptized, we have reason to presume from the fact, that 
they were chosen to be the first ministers and heralds of 
Christ, and the first priests of the new dispensation, al- 
though, if Christ so pleased, he could no doubt have dis- 
pensed them from this necessity. That He himself bap- 
tized some, is stated in the Gospel ;.* and when it is said in 
another place, that not He, but His disciples baptized, this 
is manifestly meant of the ordinary and frequent perform- 
ance of this rite.t " Whether," says Tertullian, "they 
were baptized in any way, or continued without baptism, 
so that what was said by our Lord to Peter concerning his 
being already washed, should be referred to us only, it is 
altogether rash to doubt of the salvation of the Apostles, 
since the prerogative which they enjoyed in being first 
chosen by Him, and afterwards continuing in intimate fami- 
liarity with Him, could supply the place of baptism. "J 

The proof, then, of the meaning of the divine commis- 
sion, derived from the practice of the Apostles, is nowise 
weakened by the silence of the sacred writers as to the fact 
of the baptism of most of them. Admitting that they were 

* John iii. 22. f lb. iv. 2. * De Bapt. n. 12. 



APOSTOLIC PRACTICE. 47 

not baptized, it does not follow that the command of Christ 
was not to be executed by them in regard to others. But 
as no book of scripture professes to be a full record of all 
the acts of Christ, it is not wonderful that we should not 
have positive testimony of facts, which may well be pre- 
sumed from the general rule established for initiation into 
the church. We have positive statements that the Apostles 
baptized with water those who sought admittance into the 
church, and these justify us in maintaining that the com- 
mand given them must be so interpreted. 



48 



CHAPTER IV. 



OBJECTIONS OF "THE FRIENDS. 



The ingenuity of the adversaries of baptism has been 
displayed in evading the very clear proofs of its institution, 
and in gathering objections from every quarter against it. 
They say, that according to St. Paul, there is but " one 
baptism"* under the new dispensation, as there is but one 
Lord, and one faith: and therefore they reject water-bap- 
tism, as the admission of it, they pretend, implies two bap- 
tisms, namely, one with water, the other by the Spirit. 
This objection is too subtle to be weighty. There is in 
reality but one baptism under the christian dispensation, an 
ablution with water, in the name of the Divine Trinity, 
and accompanied with the regenerating virtue of the Holy 
Ghost. The grace which is imparted, does not constitute a 
distinct baptism, since it is attached to the rite. There is no 
contrast made in scripture between the ablution with water in 
christian baptism and the sanctifying influence of the Spirit : 
since all the passages alleged to establish it, have manifest 
reference to the baptism of John. There is one Lord, Jesus 
Christ, in whom the divine and human nature are united, 
the fulness of the Divinity dwelling corporally in Him : 
there is one faith, the supernatural assent of the mind to all 
revealed truth, which is, nevertheless, manifested by the 
external profession : since " with the heart we believe unto 

* Eph. iv. 5. 



OBJECTIONS OF " THE FRIENDS." 49 

justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salva- 
tion."* So also there is one baptism, the external act being 
the sign and instrument of the internal operation. 

It is insisted on, that the one baptism is the mere internal 
work of the Spirit, whereby we are clothed with Christ, 
since St. Paul says: " as many of you as have been bap- 
tized, have put on Christ."t But the context plainly 
shows, that the Apostle speaks of their having by baptism 
been adopted into the family of God, and having received 
the privileges of children, which Christ, the Only-begotten 
Son of God, imparted to them, by means of this sacrament. 
Jewish teachers had endeavoured to induce the Galatians 
to adopt the ceremonial observances of the Law, and the 
rite of circumcision : wherefore the Apostle pointed out 
that such observances were adapted to the infantile and 
servile state in which men were before the coming of 
Christ, but not at all obligatory on those who by baptism 
had become children of God, being clothed, as it were, 
with Christ, partaking of His Sonship, and of His merits 
and privileges: " After the faith is come," he says, "we 
are no longer under a pedagogue. For you are the children 
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as 
i have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ." This 
is literally true of all who had been baptized with water, 
because the effect of this sacrament is regeneration, adop- 
! tion, and incorporation into the mystical body of Christ : 
I and although the unworthiness of some candidates may 
\ prevent their enjoying all the effects, yet their state is that 
of children, and they bear the christian character ; where- 
| fore even they are taught to address God as a Father, and 
- to implore pardon of their sins. 

* Rom. x. 10. f Gal.iii.25. 



50 OBJECTIONS OF " THE FRIENDS." 

A passage of St. Peter is often objected, wherein speak- 
ing of the saving of eight persons from the deluge by the 
ark, he adds : " Whereunto baptism being of the like form, 
now saveth you also : not the putting away of the filth of 
the flesh, but the examination of a good conscience to- 
wards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,"* The 
original text calls baptism the ** antitype" of the waters of 
the deluge, that is, the corresponding object to that type, 
the reality shadowed forth by that figure. No ground 
would exist for this comparison, were not the waters 'of 
baptism the instrument of salvation, as the waters of the 
deluge buoyed up the ark of safety. It is not, however, the 
putting away of the filth of the flesh which saves us, since 
the ablution is not directed to cleanse the body, but rather 
to signify the purification of the soul, for which the dispo- 
sitions of faith and repentance prepare the adult receiver, 
and which must be followed by a life corresponding with 
our baptismal engagements. 

The examination of a good conscience towards God 
seems to refer to the ancient apostolic rite of questioning 
the candidate as to faith, and demanding of him the renun- 
ciation of Satan, and of his works and pomps. The sin- 
cere answer of the applicant to these interrogations pre- 
pares him for that salvation, which, in its principle, is 
given in baptism ; and a life in conformity with his bap- 
tismal engagements secures to him its final attainment. 
St. Gregory, of Nazianzum, speaking of water-baptism, 
applies to it the same terms: "The illumination," which, 
in the writings of the Fathers, means baptism, "is the 
splendour of souls, the change of conduct, the interroga- 
tion of conscience unto GW."t It is indeed strange that 
* 1 Pet. iii. 21. fOrat.xi. 



OBJECTIONS OF "THE FRIENDS." 51 

from a passage which expressly treats of baptism by water, 
occasion should be taken by any one to exclude water 
altogether; especially as the same Apostle is known to 
have urged the use of water in the case of Cornelius, whose 
conscience already was good towards God. 

It is objected by some that baptism supposes conversion 
from infidelity, or from a worship entirely opposed to that 
which by this rite is adopted : wherefore those converted 
from Heathenism or Judaism were baptized, as proselytes 
had been under the previous dispensation : but those who 
have always professed Christianity cannot be baptized, 
since they need no change ; and the command evidently 
regards a different class of persons.* This is a gratuitous 
supposition : the words of the commission are as general 
i as can be conceived, and although the command to teach, 
and form to the christian rule, precedes that of baptizing, 
there is nothing to warrant us to put any limit to either 
precept, which does not arise from the very nature of 
the duty enjoined. Teaching is directed to instruct the 
I mind, and is specially necessary for those who are 
i unacquainted with the Gospel : baptizing, being a wash- 
ing with water, regards all who are defiled, and must, 
therefore, embrace all who are stained with sin, what- 
ever be the religious profession of their parents, or what- 
ever principles they themselves may have professed. If 
professors of Christianity, they still need the teaching of 
the apostolic ministry, to advance in saving knowledge, 
and learn the practical influence of its maxims. They 
must be baptized, in order to wash their robes white in the 

* This is maintained by Judge Rush in his Inquiry, as also by the 
Friends. It was one of the errors of Socinus. Epist. de Baptismo 
apud Vossiuniy de Baptismo disp. xiii. 



52 OBJECTIONS OF " THE FRIENDS." 

blood of the Lamb, and to put on Jesus Christ. No argu- 
ment can be drawn from the practice of the Jews towards 
proselytes from Heathenism, whose descendants enjoyed 
Jewish privileges without any baptism; for the christian 
rite is not borrowed from the Jews, nor regulated by prin- 
ciples of analogy ; but is wholly dependant on the divine 
authority of Jesus Christ, who made it a necessary condi- 
tion for entrance into his kingdom. His law is universal, 
and the practice of the church, during all ages, is a satis- 
factory evidence that it regards the posterity of believers, 
as well as those who grew up amidst the darkness of infi- 
delity. 

Without any semblance of justice, it is alleged that 
baptism is a relic of Judaism, one of those divers washings 
observed under the law, an ablution like that of John, and 
one of those observances which were tolerated for a time 
in condescension to Jewish prejudices. It certainly can- 
not be viewed in this light. Although divers purifications 
by washing were prescribed in the Mosaic law, they were 
totally different from Christian baptism. In place of many 
ablutions, we have one : they were performed by the indi- 
viduals themselves ; this must be performed by another: 
they were accompanied by no solemn invocation, such as 
is made in Christian baptism, in the name of the three Di- 
vine Persons: they were types ; baptism is an instrument 
and means of grace. Even conceding what many learned 
men deny, that the Jews baptized proselytes, as some of 
their writers testify,* and that this practice was anterior to 
Christianity,! and was apparently supported by passages of 

* See the testimonies in the Introduction to the History of Infant 
Baptism, by W. Wall, Vicar of Shoreham, in Kent. London, 1707. 
f Lightfoot, Hor. Hebraic. Grotius, in Mat. iii. 6. 



OBJECTIONS OF " THE FRIENDS." 53 

the law ;* their custom, however ancient, cannot be iden- 
tified with the divine institution which Christ has so distinct- 
ly marked as his own, by the invocation of the Trinity, 
and the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit. For the 
same reason it is not the baptism of John ; but it is that 
perfect baptism to which, as John testified, his ablution 
should give place. " The Jewish purification," it is ob- 
served by St. Chrysostom, " did not free from sins, but 
only from corporal defilements : ours is not such, but much 
greater, and full of much grace : for it frees from sins, and 
cleanses the soul, and imparts the gift of the Spirit. The 
baptism of John was far more sublime than that of the 
Jews, but inferior to ours, and as a kind of bridge between 
both baptisms, leading from theirs to ours : for he did not 
invite them to the observance of corporal purifications ; but 
drawing them off from such things, he exhorted and per- 
suaded them to pass from vice to virtue, and to place their 
hope of salvation in the amendment of their conduct, not 
in divers baptisms and purifications by water."! Baptism is 
not a rite merely tolerated, but specially commanded by 
Christ himself; pointed out by Peter to the Jews as the 
necessary means for the remission of sin ; and administered 
to Cornelius, even although already baptized with the Holy 
Ghost; and enjoined by Ananias on Saul as a positive duty, 
after his miraculous conversion. 

An ablution with water appears to some to be too mate- 
rial a rite to belong to the Christian dispensation, wherein 
God is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, and his 
gifts invisibly descend on the children of men. But shall 
we judge of the divine institutions by abstract ideas of per- 

* Comp. Numb. xv. 15. and Exod. ix. 10. 
\ Horn, de Bapt. Christi. 



54 OBJECTIONS OF " THE FRIENDS." 

fection, rather than by the positive testimony of God him- 
self? He is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth ; that 
is, spiritually and truly, with the homage of the mind and 
of the affections, and in conformity with the great princi- 
ples which he has revealed. His gifts invisibly descend, 
and the sanctifying influence of his grace is not visible to 
the carnal eye : yet it is no wise inconsistent with his 
spiritual nature, as it is not certainly unworthy of his good- 
ness and bounty, to exhibit, even to the eye of flesh, the 
token and seal, nay, the very instrument of his grace ; that 
faith and hope may be excited and sustained, and that we 
may be made sensible, by the external exhibition, that an 
interior work of grace is performed, which eye hath not 
seen, nor ear heard, and of which the conceptions of the 
mind are necessarily imperfect. It becomes us not to be 
more spiritual and wise than suits our present state of be- 
ing, but rather to recognize with gratitude the spiritual and 
divine character of the gift conveyed under the external 
form. "It is not," says St. Chrysostom, " a mere sen- 
sible gift, which Christ has left us: under sensible forms 
we receive gifts which the understanding alone can con- 
template. Thus in baptism in the external rite water is 
perceptible : but the effect is present to the mind, namely, 
the birth, and regeneration or renewal of the soul. If you 
were without a body, he would doubtless have bestowed 
on you spiritual gifts without any envelop : but since your 
soul is united with the body, he bestows on you spiritual 
gifts under sensible forms."* "Since we consist of two 
parts," St. Gregory Nazianzen observes, " that is soul 
and body, the one visible, the other invisible, the purifica- 

* Horn, lxxxii. alias lxxxiii. n. 4. 



OBJECTIONS OF " THE FRIENDS." 55 

tion is also twofold, namely, by water and the Spirit, the 
one visibly and corporally received, the other incorporeally 
and invisibly concurring therewith ; the one typical, the 
other true, and purifying the depths of conscience."* St. 
Cyril, of Jerusalem, speaks to the same effect: " Since 
man is formed of two substances, soul and body, the puri- 
fication is twofold, incorporeal for the incorporeal sub- 
stance ; corporeal for the body : the water cleanses the 
body, the Spirit seals the soul ; that our heart being sprin- 
kled by the Spirit, and our bodies washed with water, we 
may approach God."t 

Not only the express institution by Almighty God of 
external worship by sacrifice and ceremonies, but the whole 
conduct of our Divine Redeemer warrants us in expecting 
that the communication of his gifts should be externally 
manifested. He used external forms in the cure of the 
deaf and dumb, and of the blind : the touch of his garment 
was the occasion of virtue going forth from him to dry up 
the fountain of blood : the walking home of him who had 
been palsied, was the evidence of the pardon of sin. Why, 
then, shall we imagine that every external rite is banished 
from the new dispensation? "There is," as Lucas has 
well observed, " nothing unspiritual in the belief that Christ 
established as a perpetual ordinance in his Church a par- 
ticular outward act as a means or instrument of grace, and 
it seems to me a fearful thing for men in the pride of hu- 
man reason, to reject an ordinance most clearly commanded, 
because we cannot perceive the reason why the ordinance 
and grace are conjoined. Let it be remembered that if 
baptism is commanded by Christ, it is a fearful thing to dis- 
obey his commands. "J 

* Orat. xl. f Catech. iii. de Bapt* 

i Reasons for becoming a Roman Catholic. 



56 OBJECTIONS OF " THE FRIENDS." 

Need we be surprised that in baptism the purification of 
the soul by the Divine Spirit should be externally display- 
ed, when the whole Christian teaching is the promulgation 
of truth as revealed and manifested by our Lord Jesus 
Christ ? " That which was from the beginning," says St. 
John, " which we have heard, which we have seen with 
our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have 
handled of the word of life, for the life was manifested, 
and we have seen and do bear witness, and declare unto 
you the life eternal, which was with the Father, and hath 
appeared to us : that which we have seen, and have heard, 
we declare unto you."* Barclay reproaches us with pre- 
ferring the shadow to the substance,! because we retain a 
rite which is at once the external exhibition and the effi- 
cient instrument of a divine work wrought in the soul. 
The ablution with water is not a mere shadow. It repre- 
sents and effects the invisible purification of the soul. 
Lucas justly observes, that the objections of Gurney, a 
recent writer, are founded on entire misapprehension: 
" His interpretation of the texts in which there is an allu- 
sion to baptism, depends wholly upon the unfounded notion 
that an outward ceremony conjoined with and made the 
means of conveying the grace of God is the same in prin- 
ciple with an outward ceremony connected with no grace 
whatsoever, but merely used as a sign ; and that a system 
of ordinances for the transmission of spiritual influence is 
unspiritual in the same manner as a system of ordinances 
for the transmission of no spiritual influences whatever." 

If the practice and persuasion of the whole Christian 
world, from the earliest times to the latest, can afford any 
aid in understanding the nature of the institutions of Christ, 
* 1 John i. 1, f Prop. xii. proof 3. 



OBJECTIONS OF " THE FRIENDS." 57 

no doubt can be entertained as to baptism by water, which 
has been always deemed the primary and essential rite of 
! Christianity. In the ancient epistle, ascribed to St. Bar- 
] nabas by Vossins, and other learned critics, and which all 
must acknowledge to belong to the Apostolic age, it is 
said: "Let us inquire whether the Lord was pleased to 
forewarn men of water and the cross. As to the water, it 
was written concerning Israel, that they would not em- 
brace the baptism which leads to the remission of sins, but 
that they would form to themselves another."* The writer 
j interprets mystically the text wherein the Psalmist speaks 
of the tree planted near the streams of water: " Observe 
1 how he mentioned at the same time the water and the 
'j cross : for this is what he means : blessed are they who 
hoping in the cross, descend into the water."t Tertullian 
speaks of the mystical appellation of fishes given to Chris- 
tians, with reference to the Greek initials expressing, in 
their combined form, a fish, and separately: Jesus Christ, 
Son of God, the Saviour: " We little fishes in regard to 
Jesus Christ our IX0TS are born in the water. "J The 
< testimonies of all the ancient Christian writers could be 
* quoted, and I shall have occasion to quote many of them 
hereafter ; but for the present I shall merely remark, that 
the Christian doctrine and practice was notorious even to 
the heathens, by whom they were surrounded. A pagan 
writer, in the decline of the second century, introduces a 
Christian speaking of the Divine Author of his religion, 
and says : " He renovated us by water."§ 

* §. xi, f Ibidem. t De Baptismo. n. 1. 

§ oV v8ato$ was avsxaivtow' In Philopatris, a dialogue by some 
ascribed to Lucian ; by others said to be of a contemporary, or of a 
more ancient writer. 



58 OBJECTIONS OF " THE FRIENDS." 

There were, indeed, some of the various sects separated 
from the church, who denied baptism ; but they were few, 
and they were regarded as the enemies of the Christian 
name. Quintilla, a woman of the sect of Caianites, is 
mentioned by Tertullian as destroying baptism ; viper-like, 
he remarks, for vipers and asps love dry places. She 
sought to allure Catholics to her sect, knowing, as he also 
observes, that to take fish out of water was certain death.* 
St. Augustin states that the Manicheans declined baptizing 
their proselytes, since they acknowledged no saving virtue 
in the water.t The Seleucians also rejected baptism.f In 
the twelfth century the Bogomili and Albigenses, being in- 
fected with Manicheism, assailed the same sacrament.§ But 
the vast body of those who claimed the Christian name, 
whatever errors particular sects may have otherwise broach- 
ed, retained it. 

The distinguished convert whom I have more than once 
quoted, thus compresses the proofs of the divine institution 
of baptism, giving us the result of his own investigations : 
" I found that Christ sent out His disciples to baptize, and 
they baptized with water under His immediate superinten- 
dence. His last command to them is to baptize, and they 
believe, and act upon the belief, that He meant baptism by 
water. The words of Christ and His Apostles, speaking 
of baptism, contain, as J. J. Gurney admits, allusions to 
baptism by water, and the Apostles continued all their lives 
the practice of water baptism, and transmitted it as an or- 
dinance to the church, by which it has been preserved in 
an unbroken descent."|| 

* Be Baptismo, n. i. \ L. de haeres, n. xlvi. t lb. n. lix. 

§ Bossuet, Histoire des Variations, 1. xi. passim. 
\\ Reasons for beco ming a Roman Catholic. 



59 



CHAPTER V. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 



Before treating of the necessity of baptism, it becomes 
necessary to explain and defend the faith of the church in 

I regard to original sin. A fundamental truth of Christianity is 
that all men are naturally children of wrath, being conceived 
and born in sin. On this foundation reposes the belief of the 
need which the whole human race had of a Redeemer ; and 
of the necessity of grace to work out our salvation. It was 

I denied by Pelagius, a British monk, in the early part of 
the fifth century; but triumphantly maintained by St. 
Augustin, and solemnly proclaimed in various councils 

I of Africa, and from the chair of Peter, by Popes Innocent 

I and Zosimus. The General Baptists were said by Wall to 
deny original sin: "Many, (but it seems not all) of the 

I General men are Pelagians in the point of original sin. 
They own nothing of it. The other do, as appears both 

i by the confession of faith of seven churches of 'em, and 
also by their present profession."* The American Bap- 
tists, in the confession of faith published in 1742, express 
their belief in original sin, and its consequences in terms 
much stronger than the Catholic doctrine on this subject: 
"Our first parents by this sin, fell from their original 
righteousness and communion with God, and we in them : 
whereby death came upon all, all becoming dead in sin, 

* Hist, of Infant Baptism, p. 2, ch. viii. 



60 ORIGINAL SIN. 

and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and 
body. They being the root, and, by God's appointment, 
standing in the room and stead of all mankind ; the guilt of 
sin was imputed, and corrupted nature conveyed to all their 
posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation, 
being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of 
wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and all 
other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the 
Lord Jesus set them free."* The substance of this doc- 
trine, and for the most part, the words, are taken from the 
Westminster Confession.! The Anglican articles contain 
similar sentiments : " Original sin standeth not in the fol- 
lowing of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk ;) but it 
is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, that 
naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby 
man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of 
his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth 
always contrary to the Spirit ; and therefore in every per- 
son born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and 
damnation. "J The Catholic doctrine may be learned from 
the anathemas pronounced at Trent against the contrary 
errors. Adam himself in body and soul was changed for 
the worse by his prevarication, and we forfeited in him 
sanctity and justice, and incurred the penalty of death, 
contracting sin, which is the death of the soul: "If any 
one say that the prevarication of Adam injured him alone, 
and not his posterity, and that he forfeited for himself 
alone, and not for us also, the sanctity and justice which he 
had received from God, or that he being defiled by the sin 
of disobedience, transfused death and corporal afflictions 
only to the whole human race, and not sin, which is the 
* Ch. vi. 2, 3. f Ch. vi. * Art. ix. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 61 

death of the soul, let him be anathema ; since he contradicts 
the Apostle who says : ' By one man sin entered into the 
world, and by sin death, and so death passed unto all men, 
in whom all have sinned.' "* In the following canon it is 
said, that the sin of Adam is one in its origin, and being 
transfused into all, by propagation, not by imitation, is in 
each one of us. The difference between the Catholic faith 
and the Calvinistic error has been well pointed out by 
Mohler in his celebrated work.t Catholics believe in the 
spoliation of human nature, which has lost in Adam the 
supernatural graces wherewith divine bounty had adorned 
it : they believe that the soul is dead to God, because de- 
prived of grace which is her life : they believe that she can 
never see God, unless raised from her fallen state : but 
'they do not believe that nature itself is corrupted, although 
it be weakened and despoiled. 

Man bears in himself the evidence of his fallen condition. 
l"he miseries and infirmities of his body, but still more the 
disorders of his mind, and the weakness and evil propensi- 
ties of his heart, are melancholy proofs of his degradation. 
Whatever effort may be made to account for our numerous 
and grievous corporal afflictions by natural causes ; who 
will suppose that man originally came forth from the hands 
of his Creator with a mind so clouded, and liable to err, 
and with passions so violent? The mystery of moral 
weakness united with theoretical admiration of virtue, 
nd an habitual determination to practise it, can only be 
xplained by admitting, that, although God created man 
{free from any moral imperfection, he is now imperfect and 
defiled : and this defilement cannot otherwise be accounted 
for, than by reference to the sin of the parent of the Imman 

* Sess. v. | Symbolik, 1. i. ch. ii. 

6 



62 ORIGINAL SIN. 

race, whereby grace being forfeited, interior disorder and 
revolt ensued. 

The doctrine of original sin has been insidiously attacked 
by Albert Barnes, a Presbyterian minister of this city, in 
his Notes on the Epistle to the Romans, which occasioned 
his suspension from the ministry, to which, however, he 
was subsequently restored, when the New School pre- 
vailed in the General Assembly. On the pretence that the 
Apostle did not mean to deliver any theory, but from ad- 
mitted facts extolled the benefit of the atonement, Barnes 
bends to his own views the clear and strong testimonies 
which declare that all had sinned, and thus incurred the 
penalty of death. Gratuitously assuming that the doctrine 
of original sin is a metaphysical speculation of later ages, 
he explains what is said of the effects of Adam's sin on the 
human race, as indicating its influence, but not any com- 
munication of guilt or punishment. Yet by the same rule 
of interpretation every revealed doctrine may be rejected as 
a theory which the sacred writers did not deliver. The 
Apostle testifies a fact when he declares : " By one man 
sin entered into this world, and by sin death ; and so death 
passed upon all men in whom all have sinned."* If the 
sin of Adam did not directly and as a cause induce the guilt 
of the human race, there was no ground for stating that " so 
death passed upon all men ;" for in many of them it would 
not be the effect of sin, since a vast portion of our race die 
before the age of reason, and consequently without any 
actual sin. In this theory, which may be traced to the 
days of Pelagius, death is not the effect of Adam's sin, 
even as to the adult, but it is caused by personal sins, to 
which Adam contributed no further than by the perverse 
* Rom. v. 13. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 63 

example of his disobedience. The connexion then be- 
tween Adam's sin, and the necessity of death which em- 
braces all, adults and infants, is destroyed by this interpre- 
tation, which further contradicts the positive testimony : 
"in whom all have sinned."* Whether this version be 
admitted, or the text be rendered, as some will have it, 
" inasmuch as all have sinned," the fact of sin being com- 
mon to all who die, equally results from it, death being in 
all caused by sin : wherefore, as infants are manifestly in- 
capable of actual sin, it must be admitted that they are 
sinners, in consequence of the act of the first man, whereby 
he and his posterity fell from original justice and innocence. 
"Death," says the Apostle, "reigned from Adam unto 
Moses even over them that had not sinned after the simili- 
tude of the transgression of Adam. "t Before the promul- 
gation of the law on Sinai, and the transgressions conse- 
quent thereon, death held its sway over the whole human 
race, even over infants who had not sinned actually, as 
Adam sinned. There must be a cause for this universal 
necessity : there must be a sin common to all, of which 
death is the punishment. Barnes endeavours to confine 
the Apostle's words to actual transgressors of the natural 
law ; but the empire of death was not confined to them. It 
| extended to the tender infant, because it entered into the 
1 world by the sin of the father of the human family, in 
whom all sinned, being all involved in the guilt and pun- 
\ ishment of his transgression. But how can this be ? Is it 
not a manifest absurdity to say that those sinned who had 
no existence ? It were absurd to assert it in its ordinary 
meaning, because it implies actual prevarication : but it is 
not absurd to say that all fell from the unmerited elevation 
* 1$' 9 Havre $ r^aptov' f Rom. v. 14. 



64 ORIGINAL SIN. 

which Adam forfeited by his disobedience : that all lost, 
through his act, the gratuitous gifts which had been be- 
stowed on him, as the head of his race : that all were 
thenceforth estranged from God, children of wrath, stained 
with sin, which is the death of the soul. There is indeed 
much that is mysterious in this economy of Divine Provi- 
dence, but nothing absurd : of it we have a faint image in 
some legal enactments, which subject to penal disabilities 
the descendants of traitors even to the twentieth generation.* 
It behoves us to recognize and adore a truth of which the 
evidence presents itself constantly to us in the moral infir- 
mities which we suffer. The gloomy reign of death over 
all men, for which so many evils prepare us, is as inexpli- 
cable without the admission of a general sin, of which it is 
the punishment, as the communication of the sin of Adam 
to the whole human race. Let those who say that the 
Apostle means only that death is universal, because men 
generally prove transgressors, show how this accounts for 
the pains, and sufferings, and death of millions of children 
before the use of reason. 

The alternate use by the Apostle, in this chapter, of the 
w r ords many and all, shows that when he says, " by the 
offence of one many died ;" he means that " all were 
dead," as he elsewhere says; and " the offence of one was 
unto all men to condemnation :" and when he says, " by 
the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners," 
he means that " in him all have sinned." The comparison 
which he makes between the consequences of the sin of 
Adam and the fruits of the sacrifice offered up by Christ, 
shows that as " Christ died for all, all were dead," and 
that as all who are sinners are such in consequence of the 

* Blackstone's Comm. 1. ii. n. 252, and 1. iv. n. 389. 



ORIGINAL SIN, 65 

sin of Adam, so all the just owe the gift of grace to Christ 
their Redeemer. The actual communication of the justi- 
fying grace of Christ is not indeed made to all, but it is 
offered to all, and its superior efficacy is manifest, since, 
whilst the sin of Adam brought with it necessarily the 
general fall of the human race from original justice, the 
grace of Christ suffices to cancel not only that stain, but 
the innumerable prevarications of men, and is accompa- 
nied with great gifts, and followed by life eternal : " Judg- 
ment, indeed, was by one unto condemnation ; but grace is 
of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's 
offence death reigned through one, much more they who 
receive abundance of grace, and of the gift, and of justice, 
shall reign in life through one Jesus Christ."* If Adam 
influenced the human race merely by his example, and thus 
gave occasion to their sins, so should we consider, as Uni- 
tarians do, Christ leading men to justice by example, 
rather than by any actual communication of grace; and the 
pernicious results of Adam's fall would so outweigh the 
fruits of Christ's offering, that there would be scarcely any 
plausibility in the reasoning of the Apostle: whence Ro- 
senmuller, following this rationalistic view, ventured to 
state that the Apostle argued conformably to Jewish preju- 
dices, rather than to facts.t 

The Apostle, in clear terms, affirms that all were dead 
to God, wherefore Christ offered himself up a victim for 
the sins of all men. " If one died for all," he says, " there- 
fore all were dead. And Christ died for all. "J The ar- 
gument loses its force, if the death of all by sin be denied. 
Since, then, all have not committed deadly sins, their death 

* Rom. v. 16, 17. f See my Theologia Dogmatica, vol ii. ch. iii. 

* 2 Cor. v. 14. 

6* 



66 ORIGINAL SIN. 

must be the consequence of the sin of him from whom all 
derive their origin. Christ died for all: His divine heart 
embraced children as well as adults : His blood flowed to 
obtain for both pardon and salvation. " Therefore all were 
dead," void of the life of grace, and subject to the decree 
of eternal death. The harshness of this language is con- 
siderably mitigated, when it is considered, that, according 
to the prevailing sentiment of divines, it implies no more 
as to infants than the privation of supernatural beatitude. 

Is it likely, it may be asked, that a dogma like this 
should have been unknown until the days of Paul, and 
that no trace of it should appear in the inspired narrative 
of the fall of man ? The penalty of disobedience intimated 
to him was death, and "we have no reason," observes 
Mr. Barnes, " to think he would understand it as referring 
to any thing more than the loss of life, as an expression of 
the displeasure of God. Moses does not intimate that he 
was learned in the nature of laws and penalties ; and his 
narrative would lead us to suppose that this was all that 
would occur to Adam. And indeed there is the highest 
evidence that the case admits of that this was his under- 
standing of it. For in the account of the infliction of the 
penalty after the law was violated ; in God's own inter- 
pretation of it, in Gen. iii. 19, there is still no reference to 
any thing further. ' Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt 
thou return.' Now, it is incredible that Adam should have 
understood this as referring to what has been called 6 spirit- 
ual death,' and to ' eternal death,' when neither in the 
threatening, nor in the account of the infliction of the sen- 
tence, is there the slightest recorded reference to it."* 

* In Rom. v. ] 2. Alexander Campbell maintains, that not even 
Adam himself incurred the penalty of eternal death by his transgres- 



ORIGINAL SIN. 67 

This reasoning goes to overthrow not only the transfusion 
of original sin, but the moral guilt and eternal punishment 
of Adam's personal prevarication, so that it savors of Uni- 
versalism. It was not, indeed, necessary that Adam should 
be ' learned in the nature of laws and penalties,' in order 
to understand that by violating the law of God he should 
fall under the divine displeasure, and deserve to be cast 
away for ever. It was sufficient to have the most common 
share of intellect to perceive, that by transgressing the law, 
he should cease to enjoy the divine favor, the loss whereof 
is the death of the soul. The penalty of corporal death 
intimated to him, was an assurance that God must be obey- 
ed ; and without deep reflection he might know, that hav- 
ing incurred His anger, he should lose for ever all claim 
on His bounty. The threat and its execution were the 
immediate significations of divine displeasure, and as the 
command was an addition to the natural law, so likewise 
the penalty was added to the necessary guilt and punish- 
ment which every grievous transgression produces. Can 
Mr. Barnes mean to deny that Adam by his prevarication 
lost the grace of God, and forfeited all claim to Heaven, 
nay, incurred the penalty of eternal death ? If he deny it, 
the Universalist may insist that grievous sin does not ne- 

sion, but that he lost by his fall a certain splendor which before en- 
compassed his person, and lost likewise a true idea of the image of his 
Creator, and the actual moral likeness he before had to him ; with this 
he lost his favor also, and was thereby not only obnoxious to all the 
punishment annexed to his original transgression, but was as far as in 
him lay, utterly disqualified to regain either a true idea of God's mo- 

I ral character, conformity to him, or the enjoyment of his person. See 
Christian Baptist, vol. vi. p. 485. Such is the strange view present- 

I ed by this antagonist of creeds, and advocate of general union, ground- 
ed on the sole admission of the Bible. 



68 ORIGINAL SIN. 

cessarily draw after it these consequences. If he admit it, 
notwithstanding the silence of the sacred text, he cannot 
argue from that silence that the guilt of that transgression 
was confined to our first parents. When we consider that 
the gifts with which Adam was adorned, and the glory for 
which he was thereby prepared, were supernatural, we 
shall perceive no need of an express declaration on the 
part of God, that in case of his prevarication, they would 
be forfeited for his race, as well as himself, since this must 
appear to be a natural consequence of the position which 
he occupied as head and source. In vain does Mr. Barnes 
observe, that " the word representative implies an idea 
which could not have existed in the case — the consent of 
those who are represented."* Adam was the head, the 
father, and fountain, and consequently the natural repre- 
sentative of the human family, which was to spring from 
him. He was not chosen, as delegates are elected to re- 
present constituents, but his creation placed him at the head 
of his posterity. It is unnecessary to conceive a compact 
between God and him, or a divine decree whereby he was 
constituted the representative of all ; much less need we 
presume the implied consent of his posterity that he should 
represent them. It suffices that he was the first man, and 
the first transgressor, and that all come from him a fallen 
and guilty head. 

The doctrine of the communication of the sin of Adam 
to each member of the human family was not unknown 
to the Jews, although not declared in the history of the 
fall. Job makes reference to it, when in extenuation 
of his weakness, he asks : " Who can make clean him 
that is conceived of unclean seed ?"t or in the concise lan- 
* In Rom. v. 14. f Job xiv. 4. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 69 

guage of the original text: " Who can make clean of un- 
clean ?"* or as the Septuagint rendered it : " There is no 
one free from stain, not even though his life be of one day,"t 
Each one comes into the world, defiled and unclean, where- 
fore he is also prone to personal prevarication ; nor can he 
be purified unless by God. David declares this truth more 
explicitly, when imploring pardon for the crimes into which 
passion had betrayed him : " Behold I was conceived in 
iniquities, and in sins hath my mother conceived me. "J To 
understand this of the sin of his parents, would be to favor 
the Manichean heresy, which condemns the use of mar- 
riage : to explain it of the imperfection sometimes attendant 
on what in itself is lawful, would be to wrest the terms 
from their obvious signification : wherefore we must avow 
that David himself was conceived in sin. The use of the 
plural number in the Latin version can create no difficulty, 
since the original text is in the singular, and the plural 
may be used considering the consequences of original sin. 
The ancient faith of the church is evident from all the 
Greek fathers, from St. Clement of Rome downwards, who 
quote the words of Job according to the Septuagint: " No 
one is free from stain, even though his life be but of a day." 
The infant can have no personal stain, and consequently 
there must be an hereditary stain common to all. St. 
Justin says that Christ went to the Jordan, through no 
necessity, "but on account of the human race, which by 
the sin of Adam had fallen under the power of death, and 

* nn« *b mm "nn$ |npn 

f 'Oto^s xa$apo$ arto pvrts nhh u fjud$ rj^^ yj £(017 awta. Clement 
Romanus, in his first letter to the Corinthians, ch. xvii. and the Greek 
Fathers generally, quote it in this way. 

* Ps. 1. 7' 



70 ORIGINAL SIN. 

the deceit of the serpent; besides the particular cause 
which each of them by his own evil doing presents."* 
Tertullian says : "every soul is reckoned in Adam until 
it be newly enrolled in Christ ; and it is unclean until this 
enrolment; and it is sinful, because unclean. "t Origen 
quotes the above passage from the Septuagint : " The Scrip- 
ture declares of every one who is born, whether male or 
female, that he is not clear of defilement, although his life 
be but one day."J " Hearken to David, who says : ' I was 
conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother bring 
me forth;' whereby he shows that every soul which is 
born in the flesh, is defiled with iniquity and sin."§ St. 
Cyprian urges as a reason for the baptism of infants, with- 
out awaiting the eighth day, that pardon is granted in bap- 
tism to the worst sinners : " how much greater reason," he 
asks, "is there for not rejecting the infant, that being 
lately born has committed no sin, but being carnally born 
according to Adam contracted at its first birth the contagion 
of the ancient death ?"|| 

On this point, as on a vital doctrine of religion, the 
fathers, councils, and pontiffs of the fifth century particu- 
larly insisted. It cannot be questioned without destroying 
the necessity of grace,^ and overturning the mystery of 
redemption. If all are not conceived and born in sin, then 

* Dialog, cum Tryphone. f De anima, c. xl. 

+ Horn. viii. in Lev. § Ibidem. 

|| Ep. ad Fidum, lxiv. ed. Pamelii lix. 

Tf Alexander Campbell considers grace as the preaching of the Gos- 
pel, and not an internal operation of the Holy Spirit. See Christian 
Baptist, vol. ii. p. 138, et passim. He expresses his wish that "origi- 
nal sin," with many other terms, should be expunged from the chris 
tian vocabulary. P. 159. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 71 

Christ is not the Saviour of all men, since unnumbered 
infants attain to salvation independently of His atonement: 
then also man by his mere natural energy can observe the 
whole moral law, and needs only the application of the 
sufferings of Christ, when by his personal act he has be- 
come a prevaricator. Justly did the church at that early 
period regard these errors advanced by Pelagius, as con- 
trary to the teaching of the Apostle Paul, and utterly sub- 
versive of christian faith. After so solemn declarations of 
ancient belief in Africa, and at Rome, and throughout Chris- 
tendom, it is surely just to regard the dogma of original sin 
as a fundamental doctrine of religion, which cannot, under 
any pretext, be denied. It was so judged repeatedly by 
the highest tribunals of the church at that period ; and in 
that judgment the christian world acquiesced, and for 
eleven centuries it was regarded as an unalterable dogma 
of revelation. Whatever authority centres in the sacred 
ministry by the promises of Christ, gives sanction to this 
their solemn teaching: whatever guaranties against error 
have been divinely given to the church, must here afford 
security. She would cease to be " the pillar and ground 
of truth," had she incorporated with the revealed doctrines 
a human error, and made it for centuries the basis of her 
teaching and practice. 

I shall not at present dwell more at length on this divine 
warranty of our faith ; but will simply remark that the 
Council of Trent opposed the errors of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, by repeating the anathemas which in the fifth and 
sixth centuries had been hurled at Carthage, Mela, Rome, 
Orange, and elsewhere, against Pelagius, Celestius, and 
other ancient innovators. 



72 



CHAPTER VI. 



NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 



Besides " the Friends," who deny altogether that water- 
baptism is a christian rite, many, who admit that Christ 
instituted it, deny its absolute necessity. This, however, 
is firmly maintained by the church : " If any one," say the 
fathers of Trent, " shall say, that baptism is free, that is, 
not necessary for salvation; let him be anathema."* The 
Anglican articles are silent in regard to this point, and 
Anglican divines are divided in sentiment. Featley, who 
wrote about two centuries ago, stated that there was no 
real difference with us on this subject: " All that can be 
inferred from both," he says, speaking of the texts in John 
iii. 15, Mark xvi. 16, "is that baptisme is the ordinary 
means of salvation, and that baptisme is so far necessary as 
well ratione praecepti, as ratione medii, no orthodox un- 
derstanding Protestant ever denied; neither is there any 
reall controversie between the Protestants and Papists in 
this point, but only verball, as Doctor Reynolds excellently 
clearly proveth in his lectures de censura apocrypho- 
n/m."t Others however speak differently. Hopkins, 
bishop of Raphoe, writes : " Baptism is not of such ab- 
solute necessity as a means, that none can be saved with- 

* Cone. Trid. Sess. vii. de Bapt. can. v. 

f The Dippers dipt, or the Anabaptists duck? d and plung'd over 
head and eares, at a disputation in Southwark, by Daniel Featley, 
D. D. } London, 1646, p. 7. 



NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 73 

out it ; neither doth our Saviour so assert it. For we must 
distinguish, between being inevitably deprived of the op- 
portunity of baptism, and a wilful contempt of it. And of 
this latter must the words of Christ be understood. He 
that contemns being born again of baptism, and out of that 
contempt finally neglects it, shall never enter into the king- 
dom of God ; but for others, who are necessarily deprived 
of that ordinance, the want of it shall not in the least preju- 
dice their salvation ; for it is a stated rule : * Non absentia, 
sed contemptus sacramentorum reum facitS "* This 
language is quoted and adopted by Bishop Mcllvaine.t 
Bishop Onderdonk does not recede from these sentiments : 
"Baptism, as well as moral regeneration, is required for 
our admission into the celestial kingdom — is ordinarily 
necessary — incapacity, ignorance, involuntary error, and 
want of opportunity being perhaps the only known excep- 
tions to the rule so plainly enjoined by our Lord him- 
self."! "Infants dying unbaptized, persons ignorant of the 
Gospel, or not having access to baptism, or omitting it 
through involuntary error, are exceptions, we doubt not, to 
the requirement to be born of water."§ 

The Presbyterian confession speaks in terms evidently 
designed to deny the absolute necessity of the sacrament : 
" Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this 
ordinance, yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably 
annexed unto it, as that no person can be regenerated or 

* On the Doctrine of the Sacraments, 

j- Oxford Divinity, p. 446. 

t Essay on Regeneration, by the Right Rev. Henry U. Onderdonk, 
D. D., Bishop of the Prot. Episcopal Church in the Commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1835, p. 69. 

§ Ibidem, p. 105. 

7 



74 NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 

saved without it, or that all that are baptized are undoubt- 
edly regenerated."* The Baptists say that " baptism and 
the Lord's Supper are ordinances of positive and sovereign 
institution, appointed by the Lord Jesus, the only Law- 
giver, to be continued in His church to the end of the 
world."t In admitting the command, they do not suppose 
an obligation to execute it, when it cannot be done by 
immersion, whence they suffer the sick to depart from life 
unbaptized : nor do they consider the want of it an obstacle 
to salvation, unless when disobedience to the divine man- 
date is wilful.J Judge Rush gives a peculiar view : " In 
the present state of the christian church, baptism is neces- 
sary for persons of four descriptions, the Jew, the heathen, 
the Mahometan, and the avowed infidel.' '§ 

The necessity of baptism for salvation is chiefly proved 
by the words of our Lord to Nicodemus: "Amen, amen, 
I say to thee, unless a man be born of water and the Holy 
Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."|j A 
new birth had been already declared necessary; and the 
inquiry of Nicodemus as to the manner in which it could 
take place, is now answered, by affirming the necessity of 
being born of water and the Holy Ghost. Water is to be 
the instrument of this new birth : the Holy Ghost is to be 

* Ch. xxviii. 5. j- Confession of Faith, ch. xxix. 

+ Hinton observes that pedobaptists are deprived of the blessings 
associated with the ordinance of baptism, but adds : I rejoice, indeed, 
that however much it deprives them of happiness, and Christ of His 
honour, now, it will not, unless it be a case of known and wilful dis- 
obedience, deprive them of a place in heaven." History of Baptism, 
p. 158. 

§ An Inquiry into the Doctrine of Christian Baptism, p. 43. 

il John iii. 5. 



NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 75 

its author : and until it take place, entrance into the church 
of God on earth, and into the glorious kingdom of God 
above is impossible. The necessity of this new birth 
arises from the supreme will of Christ, and is founded on 
the defiled state of the children of Adam, and the super- 
natural quality of the glory of Heaven, In Adam all have 
sinned : each one is conceived in iniquity : all are children 
of wrath : the defilement must be washed away, for nothing 
defiled can enter heaven : the child of Adam must be made 
a child of God, by the regenerating influence of the Divine 
Spirit. This is the simple obvious force of the text. The 
sentence is general, and imports the absolute necessity, 
that each one be born of water and the Holy Ghost, in 
order to enter into the heavenly kingdom. 

We have already considered the vain attempt of Calvin 
and of Barclay to interpret this text of a mere spiritual 
birth, independently of water. It may be proper here to 
notice the interpretations given by Baptist writers : " That 
both water and the Spirit," says Mr. Gale, " are necessary 
in the case our Lord is speaking of, is plain from the words 
themselves, and that regeneration really consists but in one, 
and the other is only used as a means, or the like, is, I 
think, full as plain."* " If our Lord speaks only of adult 
persons, who have heard the word of God preached ; then 
any one in the text can mean only any one such adult 
hearer."t To be born of the Spirit, in this view, is to 
conceive faith in the divine promises, and the assurance of 
one's own justification in Christ, through the operation of 
the Spirit of God. When horror for sin committed has 
seized the soul, and despondency preyed on it, the sudden 
conviction of forgiveness obtained in Christ, according to 
* Letter xii. page 4S3. j- Letter xi. p. 414. 



76 NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 

this system, is regeneration. This would confine the ne- 
cessity of baptism to adult hearers, and would deny it to be 
the new birth. To this we object that it is a novel and 
fanciful interpretation, not sustained by the context or by 
any parallel text, and entirely unknown to all christian 
antiquity. It is not allowed thus capriciously to detract 
from the means divinely chosen for this new birth, and to 
ascribe all to that change of feeling, which is oftentimes 
produced by impassioned declamation, or is the mere play 
of imagination. The early Baptist writers rely on this 
passage to prove the use of water in connexion with rege- 
neration, or in reference to it, rather than as its instrument, 
whereas the obvious force of the terms exhibits it as an 
instrument and cause.* " Not only," as Dr. Pusey well 
remarks, "is there nothing in Scripture to sever regenera- 
tion from baptism, but baptism is spoken of as the source 
of our spiritual birth, as no other cause is, save God : we 
are not said, namely, to be born again of faith, or love, or 
prayer, or any grace which God worketh in us, but to be 
born of water and the Spirit, in contrast to our birth of the 
flesh ;t in like manner as we are said to be born of God."f 
The attempt of Baptist writers to appropriate the new birth 
to the Spirit, and regard the water as not concurring to it 
efficiently, though not equally bold, is as unwarrantable as 
the attempt of Calvin to deny the natural meaning of the 
term water in this place. It is even more inconsistent, 
since the connexion of water and the Spirit being imme- 
diate in the text, the natural meaning being admitted, its 

* ysvvqQyj 'EH v8ai?o$ xdl Hpsvixato$. John iii. v. 
f to ysysvvrjfitvov 'EK tf^s tfapxo$. lb. v. 6. 

* 61 ovx 'EH atjwatcor — aM,' 'EK 0£O<t> iyevvrfirjaav. i. 13. See Dr. 
Pusey, on Baptism, p. 25. 



NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 77 

efficiency as an instrument in regeneration necessarily fol- 
lows. It is equally opposed to the consent of all antiquity, 
on which Baptists rely against Calvin ; for all understood 
baptism to be the instrument and means of regeneration, 
through the grace of the Spirit: and no one ever thought 
of that work of imagination which is now called regenera- 
tion, being indicated by this birth of the Spirit. There is 
no reason to suppose that Christ spoke only of adult 
hearers, although he addressed Nicodemus ; for the Greek 
term t^ — any one — is the most general that could be used, 
and there is nothing in the context to restrict it. On the 
contrary, by saying : " That which is born of the flesh, is 
flesh : and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit ;"* 
Christ teaches us that by our natural birth we are all with- 
out any title to beatitude, and must be born anew in order 
to enter into the kingdom of God. The Baptists allege 
that regeneration can suit only those who discern the ope- 
rations of the Spirit : but is it wonderful that a new and 
supernatural birth should in some cases take place without 
co-operation, whilst we are altogether passive in our natu- 
ral birth 1 It is surely worthy of the power and goodness 
of the Holy Spirit, who breathes where He willeth, to 
create, as it were, anew, to His own image, by His mercy, 
those who cannot by the exercise of free will prepare for 
this new birth. This was always believed to take place in 
baptism. It was reserved for later times to explain the 
new birth of a state of mind, in which presumption follows 
remorse and despair. Alexander Campbell observes: "The 
popular belief of a regeneration previous to faith, or a know- 
ledge of the Gospel, is replete with mischief. Similar to 
this is a notion that obtains amongst many of a ' law work? 

* John iii. 6. 

7* 



78 NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 

or some terrible process of terror and despair through which 
a person must pass, as through the pious Bunyan's slough 
of Despond, before he can believe the Gospel. It is all 
equivalent to this ; that a man must become a desponding, 
trembling infidel, before he can become a believer."* 

It is popularly believed that men must experience the 
pangs of struggling conscience until the soul is born anew. 
" Enthusiastic teachers,' 9 says Bishop Onderdonk, " dwell 
much on the necessity of violent pangs, in order to the ac- 
complishing of the new birth, and not only justify on this 
ground many improper excesses, but require the calmer 
Christian to force himself into a similar excitement, under 
the penalty of being accounted void of true piety. "t " Al- 
though Christians of a calm disposition judge chiefly by 
the life and conversation whether that act has occurred, 
enthusiasts appeal rather to the feelings, and require in 
these a token, usually of strong agitations, often of terrors, 
ending in rapture, before they allow a person to be consi- 
dered as regenerate. And this token once perceived, the 
individual is unreservedly classed among the pious, and 
Calvinists add, that he is now, to human judgment, marked 
for final perseverance. "J Those who thus understand re- 
generation, do not deny that water should be employed to 
associate the regenerate to the visible church, although 
they apply the term itself to the work of the Holy Spirit 
exciting and agitating the heart, and creating the new man. 
Hinton, however, perceiving that the admission that bap- 
tism is at all referred to in the discourse to Nicodemus, is 
fatal to this explanation, abandons the former Baptist wri- 

* Christian Baptist, vol. i. p. 49. 

f Essay on Regeneration, p. 106. } Ibidem, p. 96. 



NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 79 

ters: "The passage plainly means, of water * even of the 
Spirit ;' the former being the figure of the purifying influ- 
ence of the operation of the Divine Spirit. I am well 
aware that Baptists even have been misled by the early 
Fathers on this point. Of late, however, the incorrectness 
of this interpretation and its formalizing tendency have 
been more generally acknowledged. Certain it is, that the 
reference is to the heavenly state ; for any one can see that 
men can and do enter the visible * kingdom of God' with- 
out the ' Spirit' ; and * God forbid' we should follow the 
Fathers in entertaining the idea that none can enter heaven 
without the water."* Such is the most recent improve- 
ment in scriptural interpretation ! It is difficult to reason 
with enthusiasts : but to the calm inquirer it must appear 
clear that the new birth spoken of by our Lord, bears 
analogy to the natural birth, not in the pangs which pre- 
cede it, but in the dignity of children of God to which it 
elevates us. We are born of the flesh, flesh : we are " by 
nature children of wrath :" but we cannot enter into the 
kingdom of God, unless we be born of the Spirit, to a 
spiritual life, and thus made the children of God's adop- 
tion. 

Bishop Onderdonk offers an interpretation, in harmony 
with his peculiar views of twofold regeneration. He sup- 
poses that our Lord, in speaking of a new birth, at first 
merely meant a thorough change of mind and affections, 
and was so understood by Nicodemus, who objected to 
Him, that such a change was as difficult as a second natu- 
ral birth. " Our Lord then replies more fully, that he 
must not only be thus morally born again, but also, by the 

* History of Baptism, p. 300. 



80 NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 

new birth of baptism, assume the Christian covenant, and 
enter the Christian church, which was henceforth to be the 
especial channel of the grace producing and furthering 
moral regeneration — he must be born again of water, as 
well as born again of the converting influence of the Spirit, 
in order to an entrance into the kingdom of God. Then 
our Lord returns to the subject of the moral new birth. 
" This is the key," the bishop says, " we prefer for this 
highly important conversation. The necessity of the 
change of character was the first, and is throughout the 
principal topic. But the necessity of baptism also is de- 
clared."* To this novel interpretation, which separates 
what Christ unites, water and the Spirit, and makes two 
regenerations where one is plainly spoken of, we demur ; 
and plead the congruity of the ancient and unanimous in- 
terpretation of the Fathers. Christ declared to Nicodemus, 
in the first instance, the necessity of a new birth, which 
Nicodemus did not understand, and was therefore reproach- 
ed with his dulness by our Redeemer. He explained to 
him afterwards the nature of this birth, pointing to the in- 
strument whereby the Holy Spirit would effect it. 

It may be useful to notice another interpretation, given 
by Judge Rush, which shows how fancy perverts the sa- 
cred volume. He adduces many passages of Scripture, in 
which waters are used as a figure of tribulations ; and in- 
sists that the birth by water is the patient endurance of 
affliction by which we are prepared for the kingdom of 
God : " A man born of water," says he, " is a man that 
has passed through much trouble. Having escaped through 
the waters of affliction, he is like one new born. The 
sentiment contained in the passage is simply this : unless 
* Essay on Regeneration^ p. 69. 



NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 81 

a man be overwhelmed with a sense of sorrow for sin, like 
one overwhelmed in water — unless the waters of repent- 
ance compass him about even to his soul, accompanied 
with operations of the blessed Spirit, he can never enter 
into the kingdom of God."* The learned Judge failed to 
observe that in the passages which he conceived to be 
parallel, the plural form occurs, the rush of many waters 
being an apt figure of overwhelming affliction, whilst wa- 
ter in the singular is not so understood. 

From the confused and incoherent interpretations of 
modern writers, I turn to the venerable ancients. Their 
minds being unbiassed by our disputes, they can best attest 
the obvious meaning of the sentence, and the belief and 
practice of the church in her earliest days grounded on it. 
In addition to the testimonies already adduced, I shall take 
leave to quote others more directly bearing on the neces- 
sity of baptism. St. Justin the Martyr, who lived in the 
decline of the second century, gives a statement of our 
celestial and new birth by baptism, and to prove its neces- 
sity adds : " for Christ says, < Unless you be born again, 
you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' "t " Sal- 
vation," writes Tertullian, at the commencement of the 
third century, " appertains to none without baptism, espe- 
cially on account of this sentence of our Lord, who says : 
1 Unless one be born of water, he hath not life.' The law 
of baptizing is enacted, and the form prescribed : ■ Go,' 
said He, ' teach nations, baptizing them in the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' 

* An Inquiry into the doctrine of Christian Baptism, by Jacob 
Rush, Presiding Judge of the first judicial district of Pennsyl- 
vania, Philadelphia, 1819. 

f Apol. i. 61. 



82 NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 

With this law, this definitive sentence being compared : 
* Unless one be born again of water and the Spirit, he 
shall not enter into the kingdom of God,' has imposed on 
the believer the necessity of receiving baptism."* He in- 
sists on this in order to show that although salvation might 
be obtained before our Lord's death and resurrection by 
faith, without this rite, since its institution it became alto- 
gether necessary. St. Cyril, of Jerusalem, thus addresses 
the Catechumens : " Whosoever thou art who art about 
to descend into the water, do not look to the mere water, 
but accept salvation in the power of the Holy Ghost : for 
without both it is impossible to be initiated. It is not I 
who say this, but the Lord Jesus Christ, on whose will it 
depends : for He says, ' Unless a man be born again,' and 
He adds, ' of water and the Spirit,' he cannot enter into 
the kingdom of God."t St. Chrysostom is in strict har- 
mony with the other Fathers, in his interpretation of these 
words of Christ : " He that is not born of water and the 
Spirit, cannot, He says, enter into the kingdom of heaven, 
because he wears the mantle of death, and malediction, and 
corruption, and has not yet received the symbol of the 
Lord : he is a stranger and foreigner, and has not the king's 
badge : ' Unless a man be born again of water and the 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' "f St. 
Ambrose writes : " No one ascends into the kingdom of 
heaven without the sacrament of baptism, for * unless one 
is born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter 
into the kingdom of God.' "§ St. Basil says, " The Jew 

* De Baptismo, n. 13. " Obstrinxit fidem ad baptismi necessita- 
tem. 

f Cat. iii. de Bapt. t Horn. xxiv. in Joan. 

§ L. ii. de Abraha, c. ii. 



NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 83 

delays not circumcision on account of the threat, that * every- 
one that shall not be circumcised on the eighth day, shall 
perish from among his people ;' and you put off the cir- 
cumcision, which is not made by hands, and does not con- 
sist in the stripping of the flesh, but is perfected in baptism, 
though you have heard the words of the Lord : ' Amen, 
amen, I say to you, unless a man be born of water and the 
Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.' "* I forbear 
for the present other quotations, and content myself with 
observing, in the words of Wall, a celebrated Anglican 
divine : " All the ancient Christians, (without the exception 
of one man) do understand that rule of our Saviour, John 
iii. 5, of baptism." This writer denies the charge of the 
abandonment of this doctrine by those of his communion. 
In reply to Mr. Stennet, who asserted that Protestants had 
justly abandoned it, he observes : " If he mean the prin- 
ciple of an impossibility of salvation to be had, according 
to God's ordinary rule and declaration, any other way than 
by baptism, I shall by and by show, that not all the Pro- 
testants, if any, have abandoned it."t That some have 
abandoned it is apparent from the words already quoted of 
Bishops Hopkins, Mcllvaine, and Onderdonk. 

To this celebrated passage in our Lord's discourse to 
Nicodemus, we may add the words of the commission 
given by Him to the Apostles : " Go into the whole world, 
and preach the gospel to every creature ; he that believeth 
and is baptized shall be saved."J Baptism is clearly 
marked as a condition for salvation in regard to all those to 
whom the gospel is preached : and although such as have 

* Horn. xiii. de Bapt. f History of Infant Baptism, p. ii. ch. vi, 
i History of Baptism, by Isaac Taylor Hinton, p. 166. 
§ Mark xvi. 15. 



84 NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 

nott the use of reason are not capable of hearing preaching, 
yet as the terms are so emphatic, it is not a great stretch of 
reasoning to maintain that every creature — every child of 
Adam — is embraced by the Gospel, and may be made par- 
taker of its benefits. But if the rigour of scriptural exegesis 
will not allow us to maintain the universal necessity of 
baptism, by an inference of this kind, the obligation of re- 
ceiving it at least must be admitted to be co-extensive with 
the preaching, which embraces all capable of hearing. It 
has been observed, that our Lord menaces the unbeliever 
with perdition, and omits any penalty for the non-reception 
of baptism : but the reason is obvious. Unbelief supposes 
a rejection of baptism, the duty of receiving which, in obe- 
dience to the principles proclaimed by the preachers of the 
Gospel, had been already clearly stated. There was no 
just reason for speaking of baptism in connexion with faith 
as a condition for salvation, if the believer neglecting it 
could be saved. Hence all the illustrious christian writers 
of antiquity have proclaimed in unqualified terms its abso- 
lute necessity. " Without baptism," says St. Chrysostom, 
" we cannot obtain the heavenly kingdom." " It is impos- 
sible we should be saved without it."* The martyr alone, 
or other who desired the laver, but could not receive it, was 
excepted. Of the soldier who took the place of a weak 
apostate, and filled up the glorious band of forty martyrs, 
St. Basil remarks : " he was baptized in Christ, not by 
another, but by his own faith ; not in water, but in his own 
blood. "t "If any one receive not baptism," says St. 
Cyril, of Jerusalem, "he is void of salvation, unless the 
martyrs alone, who without water receive the kingdom : 
for the Saviour having ransomed the world by his cross, 
* Horn. iii. in I. Ep. ad Cor. c. i. f Horn. xl. Martyr. 



NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 85 

and his side being pierced, water and blood issued from it, 
so that in time of peace some are baptized in water, and 
others, in time of persecution, are baptized in their own 
blood : for the Saviour calls martyrdom baptism, saying : 
■ Can you drink the chalice which I drink, and be bap- 
tized with the baptism wherewith I am baptized V "* 

What then must we believe to be the lot of those who 
die without baptism ? If they have obstinately refused it, 
when sufficient proofs had been presented to them of its 
divine institution, there can be no doubt of their having 
sinned grievously, and incurred the penalty of eternal death. 
Whether the prejudices of education united with a disposi- 
tion to know and do the will of God may plead for others, 
who, in virtue of this disposition, may be considered as 
having implicitly desired it, even when under the delusion 
of false principles they expressly refused it, it were rash to 
affirm. We can entertain greater hope for such as never 
heard of its institution, if with all their heart they sought 
God, under the influence of His grace, and with an earnest 
desire to accomplish His will in all things.f But for such 

* Cat. iii. de Bapt. • 

f Bishop M'llvaine charged the Council of Trent with teaching 
"that baptism is the 'only instrumental cause' of justification; so 
absolutely necessary thereto, that without it justification is obtained 
by none," and quoted to this effect these words of the council : " In- 
strumentalis causa — sacramentum baptismi sine quo nulli unquam 
justificatio contingit." In my work on justification, p. 1 33, I pointed 
out the gross errors in the quotation, whereby the text and its mean- 
ing were entirely perverted. The council does not say, that baptism 
is the only instrumental cause, or that without it no one was ever 
justified, but it declares it to be the instrumental cause, and styles it 
the sacrament of faith — sacramentum Jidei sine qua nulli unquam 
conligit justificatio — without which no one was ever justified, since 

8 



86 NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 

as may be guiltless in not having received it, because they 
were ignorant of its divine institution, salvation is not 
secure. Their delinquencies against the natural law are a 
just subject of condemnation : " for whosoever have sinned 
without the law, shall perish without the law,"* It is not 
for us to excuse, or to condemn, but simply to recognize 
baptism as a necessary means of salvation. This article of 
our belief does not lead us to deny salvation to such as have 
desired it sincerely, although they did not actually receive 
it ; and it does not force us to scrutinize the divine counsels 
in regard to those in whom the desire may be deemed im- 
plicit.! It must, however, be remembered that salvation, 

according to the Apostle, " without faith it is impossible to please 
God." Heb. xi. 6. Mr. Livingston has since adverted to the misquo- 
tation, in a treatise " on the salvability of the Heathen :" but I am not 
aware that the Bishop has pointed to the source of his error, as in 
defence of his literary honesty he seems bound to do. 

* Rom. ii. 12. 

j- Several Catholic divines hold that the explicit belief of the mys- 
teries of the Trinity and Incarnation is only required as a condition 
for salvation of those to whom the Gospel has been preached. But a 
wish to appear liberal and charitable may easily betray men into lati- 
tudinarian expressions not consonant with the language of scripture 
and the Fathers on the necessity of baptism. In what Father of the 
church can we find a sentence like this of Bishop Onderdonk 1 " The 
hopes of the Heathen, of Mahomedan and like infidels, and of all who 
are not baptized into the visible body of Christ, are vague and general ; 
for they do but argue, or we in their behalf, that God may be merciful 
to them.'" Essay on Regeneration, p. 61. Compare this with the 
language of Augustiist. Whatever hope may be entertained of the 
salvation of those who have not heard the name of Christ, it must 
always be limited to such as, through the inspiration of divine grace, 
conceive supernatural faith in the existence of God, and the rewards 
of a future life ; for without such faith it is impossible to please God. 
Heb. xi. 6. 



NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 87 

and the means of attaining it, are the gratuitous gifts of 
divine bounty, and that the judgments of God, though just, 
are unsearchable. When a condition of salvation is pro- 
claimed on divine authority, it is rash to indulge in specula- 
tion ; it is impious to arraign the decree at the tribunal of 
our erring reason. Our duty is to obey, to fulfil the condi- 
tion, and await in futurity the full manifestation of its jus- 
tice : " O ! the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the 
knowledge of God ! How incomprehensible are His judg- 
ments, and how unsearchable His ways !"* What madness 
is it not, to deny a condition of salvation so clearly stated 
in Scripture, and so fully admitted by the christian world 
for eighteen centuries ! 

But what shall we believe in regard to infants who die 
without baptism ? We must hold, according to the words 
of our Lord, that they cannot enter into the kingdom of 
heaven. The Catholic church dare not add or take away 
from the divine sentence. Their exclusion from the glory 
of heaven is the privation of supernatural bliss to which no 
one can have the remotest title unless from the gratuitous 
bounty of God, They bear the penalty of the sin of the 
first parent, which was the common act of the human race 
represented by him as their head and source. They are 
children of wrath, not admitted to the sight of their heaven- 
ly Father. The wicked, who by their wilful prevarica- 
tions have provoked the divine justice, are punished with 
eternal torments : but even the harmless infants, who 
knew no guile, and violated no law, by their own act, are 
excluded by a just decree of God from his beatific presence. 
" Believe not," said Augustin, speaking the language of 
ancient faith, " assert not, teach not that infants seized by 

* Rom. xi. 33. 



88 NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 

death before the reception of baptism can obtain the for- 
giveness of original sin, if you wish to be a Catholic."* 
" Whosoever shall say that even infants departing from this 
life without partaking of this sacrament, shall receive life in 
Christ, truly opposes the apostolic preaching, and con- 
demns the whole church, in which they hasten and run 
with children to have them baptized, because it is believed 
without doubt that they cannot otherwise at all live in 
Christ."! This truth, maintained by the Catholic church 
in the fifth century, against the errors of Pelagius, was ex- 
pressed in the thirteenth by Innocent III. in these words : 
" The punishment of original sin is the privation of the 
vision of God; and the punishment of actual sin is the 
torment of hell-fire. "f What then will the condition of 
infants be ? If we listen to St. Gregory, of Nazianzum, 
he will tell us : " They will neither be glorified nor pun- 
ished by the just Judge; because although not baptized, 
they have no personal malice, and are rather ill sufferers 
than ill-doers. Not every one that does not deserve to be 
punished, deserves to be honoured, and he who is not 
worthy of honour, does not always deserve punishment."§ 

* L. iii. de anima et ejus orig. 

■j- Ep. clxvi. alias xxviii. ad Hier. How different is the language 
of Bishop Onderdonk, who grants heaven to unbaptized infants — un- 
regenerated either ecclesiastically, or morally, according to his favour- 
ite distinction : " Infants dying unbaptized . . are exceptions, we doubt 
not, to the requirement to be born of water. And we further believe 
that dying infants, as they are not subjects for the moral change we 
are describing, enter the kingdom of heaven without it : at least, we 
account this a just view of that part of Scripture — without entering on 
the mysterious question, how original sin, < the infection of nature,' is 
in them expunged." Essay on Baptism, p. 105. 

* Dec. 1. iii. t. xlii. de Bapt. § OraU xl. 23. 



NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 89 

The church does not teach authoritatively any thing save 
their privation of all supernatural beatitude. On this the 
Scripture is clear, as the Fathers unanimously testify : 
" Whilst, however," says Hinton, " the Fathers of the 
fourth century differed respecting the exact condition of 
infants dying unbaptized, they generally agreed that they 
missed of heaven."* 

Some recent writers have indulged in speculation as to 
the condition of infants, and supposed that they would 
enjoy natural happiness. This opinion might at first seem 
like that which St. Augustine brands as Pelagian heresy : 
"Let no one promise unbaptized children as it were a 
middle place of rest or happiness of any kind or any 
where, between damnation and the kingdom of heaven ;"* 
but he is answering Vincentius Victor, who taught that 
they could attain to the pardon of original sin, and be in 
paradise, as the penitent thief, although they could not 
reach the kingdom of heaven. This fanciful opinion, 
which promised such infants a kind of supernatural happi- 
ness, was justly rejected, and their state was called by the 
strong term of damnation, because they are totally de- 
prived of all supernatural felicity : but the opinion which 
supposes them to be naturally happy, is not to be con- 
founded with that which Augustin rejects, since he else- 
where intimates that existence may still be for them a 
favor. Although occasionally dwelling in strong terms 
on their unhappy lot, in order utterly to explode the 
Pelagian error, he does not venture to assert that it may 
not be better for them to exist in that state of privation 
than not to exist at all: "Who can doubt," he says, 
" that unbaptized infants, who have only original sin, and 

* History of Baptism, p. 313. j- L. i. de anima, c. xix. 

8* 



90 NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 

are not loaded with sins of their own will, will be in the 
gentlest condemnation of all? Which, as I am not able to 
define, what or how great it will be, so I dare not say, that 
it would be better for them not to exist at all, than to exist 
in that state."* 

From the strong language which St. Augustin some- 
times employs, some have thought that he literally held 
unbaptized infants to be with the devil, in hell-fire ; which 
sentiment is put forward by Hinton, to throw odium on the 
doctrine of original sin, and of the necessity of baptism to 
salvation ; but the comparison of the various passages in 
which he treats of the future state of unbaptized infants, 
warrants the mildest interpretation of the severe language 
which he sometimes uses. St. Thomas of Aquin, his 
great admirer and disciple, explains him as meaning utterly 
to exclude the Pelagian error, which ascribed to infants 
supernatural beatitude.t St. Bonaventure understands him 
in the same manner ;% and the general sentiment of Catho- 
lic theologians harmonizes with this interpretation, so that, 
as Sarpi himself confesses, the contrary belief of the first 
Reformers narrowly escaped condemnation in the Council 
of Trent. Wall says : " Upon the Reformation, the Pro- 
testants generally have defined that the due punishment 
of original sin is in strictness damnation in hell."§ " Father 
Paul mentions their (the Fathers of the council) disputes 
among themselves, whether they should condemn as heretical 
that proposition of the Lutherans, that the punishment for 
original sin is hell-fire, and says it missed very narrowly 
being anathematized." || 

* Contra Julian. 1. v. c. ii. -j- Qu v. de malo art. ii. ad i. 

} In ii. dist. xxxiii. art. iii. qu. i. 

§ Hist, of Infant Baptism, ch. vi. §. 8. || Ibidem, §. 6. 



NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 91 

Is not this, however, even in its most mitigated form, a 
gloomy dogma ? So many millions of harmless infants ne- 
cessarily excluded from the kingdom of God ; so many 
millions of adults, for the want of a washing with water, 
involved in eternal perdition. Let it be remembered that the 
glory of heaven is a gratuitous supernatural favor : and that 
the pains of hell are the just punishment of voluntary actual 
transgression. Having explained the limits of the dogma, 
I have nothing to offer in mitigation of its severity, but the 
proofs of its revelation. God is just and merciful, and if 
His dispensations seem severe, we must nevertheless adore 
them, and await with patience the full manifestation of their 
justice in the light of glory. We cannot, against the ex- 
press authority of Christ, promise entrance into His king- 
dom to such as are not born of water and the Spirit. We 
cannot question a condition for salvation recognized by the 
whole church of God during so many ages. Charity sug- 
gests that we should urge our fellow-men to comply with 
it, and leave to God the vindication of His own justice and 
goodness. 

Is it not a lamentable proof of the unbelieving spirit of 
our age, that whereas, in ancient times, as Augustin testi- 
fies, they ran with the new-born infant to the Baptistery, 
fearing lest it should die without this divine laver, and be- 
lieving that it could not be saved without it, large bodies of 
professing Christians now utterly discard the practice, and 
large numbers of those who theoretically admit it, are in- 
different and negligent in respect to it. It were esteemed 
cruelty to withhold from the delicate infant a remedy for 
some malady, or necessary nourishment to support life ; 
yet without remorse baptism is denied it, which all ancient 
Christianity believed to be the remedy of the primeval sin, 



92 



NECESSITY OF BAPTISM. 



and the indispensable means for attaining to life eternal. I 
would fain appeal to the human sympathies of the maternal 
breast, and implore, from the tenderness of a mother's love, 
what is denied to the authoritative command of religion. 
Take pity on your infants, and even if you disbelieve, or 
doubt of the necessity of baptism, procure it for them, lest 
you should, by following a false conscience, be the occa- 
sion of their losing the sovereign happiness of enjoying 
God's glorious presence for eternity. 



93 



CHAPTER VII. 



EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 



" Baptism," according to the Baptists, " is an ordinance 
of the New Testament, ordained by Jesns Christ, to be 
unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with Him 
in his death and resurrection ; of his being engrafted into 
Him ; of remission of sins ; and of his giving up unto 
God, through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of 
life."* This definition is borrowed from the Westminster 
confession, the word "ordinance" however being substituted 
for sacrament, and the words, " not only for the solemn 
admission of the party baptized into the visible church," 
being omitted : as also the concluding words, " which 
sacrament is, by Christ's own appointment, to be continued 
in His church until the end of the world. "t In neither 
definition is any efficacy ascribed to baptism, which is re- 
garded as a mere sign. Presbyterians make its efficacy 
dependent on divine predestination, so that " the grace 
promised is not only offered, but really exhibited and con- 
ferred by the Holy Ghost, to such (whether of age or 
infants) as that grace belongeth unto, according to the coun- 
sel of God's own will, in His appointed time." Baptism 
in this system imparts no grace, although one of God's 
elect may receive grace on that occasion, or at some other 
time, since its "efficacy is not tied to that moment of time 
wherein it is administered." The reprobate receive no 
* Confession of Faith, ch. xxx. f Ch. xxviii. 



»4 EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 

grace whatever. " Some of them," says the learned An- 
glican divine, Wall, when speaking of Predestinarians, 
" have used such expressions, as that they seem to think 
that even among the infants of faithful parents, some are so 
reprobated by the eternal decree of God, that though they 
be baptized and die in infancy, yet they will be damned."* 
Many Predestinarians are found among the Baptists, and 
are called Calvinist Baptists, whilst others are styled Armi- 
nian Baptists. Among those who hold the predestination 
of the elect, some reject the reprobation of the wicked, by 
the mere decree of God. Hinton, having declared his 
most cordial belief that "all who are grafted into Christ, 
will be found in him at the last day," observes : " I repu- 
diate, however, with feelings of strong aversion, not to say 
disgust, Calvin's doctrine of some being foreordained to 
everlasting death ; a doctrine pardonable, indeed, even in a 
great man, living in the age in which Calvin's lot was cast, 
but for the perpetuation of which ecclesiastical bodies in 
the present day are utterly inexcusable. "t Calvin speaks of 
baptism in these terms : " At whatever time we are bap- 
tized, we are washed and purified for the whole of life : 
whenever we have fallen, therefore, we must recur to the 
remembrance of baptism, and arm our minds with the con- 
sideration of it, that we may be always certified and as- 
sured of the remission of sins. "J 

Alexander Campbell maintains that immersion is a divine 
institution, designed for putting the legitimate subject of it 

* History of Infant Baptism, p. 11. ch. vi. §. 9. 

•f History of Baptism, p. 343. 

+ Instit. Allen's transl. v. 3. p. 327, cited by Bp. Onderdonk. This ? 
especially taken in connection with the inamissibility of justifying 
grace, surpasses the most extravagant idea given by our adversaries of 
indulgences — a pardon of sins past, present, and to come. 



EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 95 

in actual possession of the remission of his sins ; and that 
to every believing subject it does formally and in fact con- 
vey the forgiveness of sin.* Faith, however, is considered 
by him as necessary to obtain forgiveness : "He that goes 
down into the water to put on Christ, in the faith that the 
blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin, and that he has ap- 
pointed immersion as the medium, and the act of ours, 
through and in which he actually and formally remits our 
sins, has, when immersed, the actual remission of his 
sins."t 

The Anglican article approaches more to the Catholic 
doctrine, although its wording is such as may be accommo- 
dated to the Calvinistic view : " Baptism is not only a sign 
of profession, and mark of difference, whereby Christian 
men are discerned from others that be not christened ; but 
it is also a sign of regeneration, or new birth, whereby, as 
by an instrument, they that receive baptism rightly are 
grafted into the church ; the promises of forgiveness of 
sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy 
Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed; faith is confirmed, 
and grace increased, by virtue of prayer unto God. "J The 
ambiguous wording of this article, intended probably to 
convey the views of Calvin, and yet to present a semblance 
of Catholic language, to satisfy those who retained some- 
thing of Catholic belief, has given rise to two classes of 
divines in the Anglican communion, differing altogether in 
their doctrine on the nature and effects of baptism. § Hop- 

* See Christian Baptist, vol. v. p. 401. Jan. 7, 1828. See also p. 
415, p. 421. 

f Ibidem, p. 436. 

+ Art. xxvii. 

§ In a curious little work written by Elis, in 1660, entitled " Ar- 
ticulorum xxxix. Eccl. Anglic. Defensio," with the imprimatur of 



yb EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 

kins, Bishop of Raphoe, says : " Baptism is a means of 
our external and relative sanctification unto God ; because, 
by it, we are separated from the visible kingdom of the 
devil, and brought into the visible kingdom of Christ, 
and are devoted by vow and covenant unto the service of 
God."* Other testimonies to the same effect are alleged 
by the modern representative of the Calvinistic sentiment, 
Bishop Mclivaine. Dr. Pusey represents the other class 
of Anglican divines ; but is more unequivocal than most 
of them in his admission of the Catholic doctrine of the 
regenerating and sanctifying influence of this sacrament. 
In an elaborate treatise on this subject, he has presented an 
admirable array of Scripture and traditional testimony in 
support of this doctrine, and avowed that baptismal rege- 
neration was the doctrine of the universal church of Christ 
in its holiest ages. 

Bishop Onderdonk distinguishes two kinds of regenera- 
tion, namely, ecclesiastical and moral, and ascribes to bap- 
tism the former, whereby the baptized are constituted 
members of the visible church, and in this sense children 

Oxenden, Montagu, Beaumont, and Johnson, the Calvinistic view is 
expressed, yet in language somewhat favorable to the efficacy of the 
sacrament. In reply to the objection that the eunuch of the Queen 
of Candace, and Cornelius the centurion, were members of the church 
before the actual reception of baptism, it is said that for infants baptism 
is the gate of the church, and that the faith of adults is thereby con- 
firmed, and that it is the means which God employs to bestow salvation. 
" Quanquam Deus salutis sit causa princeps, hoc non impedit quo 
minus baptismus sit medium, quo Deus in salute conferenda utatur ; 
deinde baptismus infantibus primus est in Ecclesiam ingressus, licet 
non adultis, de quibus in exemplis allatis ; nee tamen suo caret fructu 
baptismus in adultis, quippe fidem confirmans." p. 98. 
* Cited by Bishop Mclivaine, in Oxford Divinity, p. 444. 



EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 97 

of God : but the moral regeneration, which consists in a 
change of character, is considered by him to be indepen- 
dent of baptism. " The change of state, which is the 
transition from being out of the visible church to being 
within it, is, in the Christian church, effected in baptism, 
and by the Holy Spirit, the minister being His agent. And 
this operation of the Spirit, is, in Scripture, called regene- 
ration." " That change of character, which is recovery 
from the dominion of sin to victory over it, and when com- 
bined with baptism, from its curse to pardon, is ordinarily 
effected in the use of the means of grace, yet by the Holy 
Spirit, by His power only; and the change is gradual and 
progressive. ... In baptism, as one of the sacraments, de- 
voutly received by an adult, piety is furthered ; and, in 
both adults and infants, ' grace is increased by virtue of 
prayer unto God ;' this, however, being an element of the 
change of character, is not to be confounded w r ith the 
change of state then effected."* These views are acknow- 
ledged by the bishop to be the result of his own reflections 
and at variance with his earlier impressions. The terms 
sound strangely. We believe they are most easily recon- 
cileable with the opinion of those divines of his commu- 
nion, who deny the sanctifying and regenerating power of 
baptism. They are certainly opposed to the teaching of 
the Fathers, as the bishop ingenuously states : " It is not 
uncommon for the Fathers to regard the moral and the bap- 
tismal as one regeneration, and connected with the sacra- 
ment of the font."t 

It is easily perceived that the doctrine of baptismal rege- 
neration found little favor with the American Protestant 
Episcopal Convention, that in 1789 rernodelled the Book 

* Essay on Regeneration. Introduct. p, 8. f P. 47. 

9 



98 EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 

of Common Prayer, for although they suffered it to be 
said that a baptized " child is regenerate and grafted into 
the body of Christ's church,"* they took care to expunge 
those passages wherein regeneration is expressly ascribed 
to baptism, as Bishop Onderdonk testifies ; "In the Eng- 
lish form of receiving into the congregation infants that 
have been privately baptized, it is declared, ' that this child 
is by baptism regenerate,' — and in a previous part of the 
office, ' is now by the laver of regeneration in baptism, 
received into the number of the children of God, and heirs 
of everlasting life.' These passages are not in our Prayer- 
book; and the omission is judicious — 1. because while the 
connection of baptism with regeneration is sufficiently de- 
clared elsewhere, there is avoided too close and rigorous a 
definition, which furthers contrariety, rather than unity in 
doctrine — and, 2. because it is not quite correct to say that 
a certain predicate ' is now,' or may ' now' be made, 
which was true at a previous time."t Many will dissent 
from the views of the bishop on this point, and think that 
the omission severed another link of the chain that bound 
together the American Episcopalians with their Anglican 
brethren, effaced one of the remaining memorials of Catho- 
lic doctrines, and opened the way to the spread and in- 
crease of what Dr. Pusey terms low, rationalistic and 
carnal views of the sacrament. " We deny," says Bishop 
Onderdonk, "that any deposite is given in baptism, such 
as may be figuratively called a seed, germ, or leaven of a 
moral grace, as essentially connected with the rite."f 

* The English book of Common Prayer says, "is regenerated" 
The change seems intentional. 

f Essay on Baptism, p. 52. Note. * Ibidem, p. 64. Note. 



EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 99 

The general sentiment of all the Protestant sects in Ame- 
rica seems to be, that baptism is a mere rite of association 
to the visible church, imparting no grace — impressing no 
character, and producing no internal effect whatever. " One 
text misquoted," as Dr. Pusey remarks, " in order to dis- 
prove the absolute necessity of baptism, has ended in the 
scarcely disguised indifference or contempt of an ordinance 
of our Saviour."* Bishop Onderdonk indeed protests 
against ecclesiastical regeneration being regarded as a 
mere outward grace, and asks: " Is not the covenant title 
to moral grace, itself a grace — is not the title to forgiveness 
of sins, and to heaven, a grace — and is it not conferred on 
the soul — and is not this gift to the soul ' an inward grace,' 
truly and properly — an inward spiritual grace, s given unto 
us' by the ' one Spirit who baptizes us all into the one 
body V "t Notwithstanding these interrogations, most per- 
sons will consider ecclesiastical regeneration as an outward 
relation to the visible church, which, though it be supposed 
to give a title to grace, actually gives no grace whatever. 
With the exception of such divines of the High Church 
party as have embraced the Oxford views, I believe the 
actual communication of sanctifying grace in baptism is 
generally denied by Episcopalians, as well as by other 
Protestants. 

According to the Catholic belief, baptism, like every 
other sacrament, contains an inherent efficacy. It washes 
away the stain of original sin, and whatever actual stains 
may have been contracted by the adult receiver : it regene- 
rates the child of Adam, and makes him a child of God : it 
imparts grace and sanctity, and so thoroughly and perfectly 

* Tract on Baptism, p. 39. 

f Essay on Baptism, p. 64. Note. 



100 EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 

purifies and sanctifies, that where no obstacle is presented 
by the receiver, no cause of condemnation remains in him, 
so that if summoned immediately out of life, nothing what- 
ever would withhold him from the kingdom of heaven.* 
This grace is said to be inherent in baptism, inasmuch as 
it is attached to it by the divine institution of our Redeemer ; 
and is infallibly imparted, unless when the incredulity or 
perverseness of the receiver opposes an obstacle to its ope- 
ration. There is no virtue, however, ascribed to the sacra- 
ment, except as a means divinely chosen to apply to our 
souls the merits of the sufferings and death of our Lord. 
The power of God, and the merits of our Redeemer are the 
sources of sacramental efficacy, and a proper state of mind 
in adults — faith, repentance, hope, and a commencement 
of love — are required to receive the grace which the sacra- 
ments convey. 

The passage already quoted which declares the necessity 
of a new birth of water and the Spirit, proves that regene- 
ration takes place by means of this sacred ablution. The 
Spirit cleanses the defiled child of Adam, gives him a 
supernatural birth, and a title to an everlasting kingdom. 
He is born again of water and the Holy Ghost, and there- 
fore can enter the kingdom of God. Thus he who was 
conceived in iniquity and was naturally a child of wrath, is 
cleansed and made a beloved child, in whom God takes 
complacency. "Our birth," Dr. Pusey well remarks, 
" (when its direct means are spoken of,) is attributed to 
the baptism of water and of the Spirit, and to that only."t 
All actual sins which the soul had committed are at the 

* See Council of Trent, Sess. v. deer, de pecc. orig., quoted at large 
in my work on Justification, ch. xi. 
f Tract on Baptism, p. 27. 



EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 101 

same time cancelled — even deicide itself was expiated by 
the baptismal waters : " Do penance," said Peter to the 
Jews whom he had reproached with crucifying the Lord, 
"and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus 
Christ, for the remission of your sins."* Ananias, ad- 
dressing Paul, pointed to baptism as the means of obtaining 
remission of sin : " Now, why delayest thou ? Rise up, 
and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon his 
name."t The Apostle St. Paul ascribes to this laver this 
purifying, regenerating, and saving virtue : " We ourselves 
also," he says, "were some time unwise, incredulous, 
erring, slaves to divers desires and pleasures, living in 
malice, and envy, hateful and hating one another. But 
when the goodness and kindness of our Saviour-God ap- 
peared : not by the works of justice which we have done, 
but according to His mercy, He saved us, by the laver of 
regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost, whom He 
hath poured forth upon us abundantly, through Jesus Christ 
our Saviour : that being justified by His grace, we may be 
heirs, according to hope, of life everlasting."! Salvation, 
in its principle and commencement, is given in the laver, 
which gives us a new birth, and a new supernatural exist- 
ence, by the divine operation of the Holy Ghost. He is 

* Acts ii. 38. MstavoyjaaifB agile poenitentiam. The vernacular 
versions made on the Vulgate generally retain the turn of the Latin 
phrase. This has been the more strictly adhered to, because the ori- 
ginal term is used in Scripture to denote compunction manifested by 
external acts, whereof the innovators of the sixteenth century sought 
to despoil it, thus denying and making void its influence. George 
Campbell, feeling that to repent but feebly expresses its force, has sub- 
stituted the term reform: but the simple phrase of the Vulgate is far 
more suitable. 

f Acts xxii. 16. * Tit. iii. 5. 

9* 



102 EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 

poured on us abundantly, and the infusion of water is but 
the emblem and instrument of this abundant communica- 
tion. By His grace we are justified from all our past sins, 
and made heirs of life eternal in hope ; the actual posses- 
sion of our inheritance being still dependant on the preser- 
vation of the saving grace bestowed on us. This text con- 
sidered in connexion with the words of Christ concerning 
the new birth by water and the Spirit, harmonizes so ad- 
mirably, that each illustrates the other. "One is almost 
ashamed," says Dr. Pusey, "to go about to prove that a 
text so plain applies to baptism, or that the Holy Church 
Universal always so held it. The proof which one person 
can bring, can be but a sample of what remains behind. 
The proof is the same in kind as before, and may be useful 
to those who, (because they have never examined,) doubt 
even whether there be such a thing as catholic consent and 
agreeing interpretation in christian antiquity. First, then, 
no passage from any Father can, or has been pretended to 
be adduced, which shall imply any other explanation ; 
next, there is the large body of Fathers from every church, 
who do interpret the text as a matter of course, of baptism ; 
thirdly, all the liturgies, in all the different ways in which 
it is possible to apply it."* The souls washed in baptism 
are those for whom Christ offered up in a special manner 
His death, that they might come forth from the water, 
renewed, regenerated, without any trace of their former 
defilements: "Christ," says the Apostle, "loved the 
church, and delivered Himself up for it, that He might 
sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water, in the word 
of life, that He might present it to Himself a glorious 
church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; bu-t 
* Tract on Baptism, p. 51. 



EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 103 

that it should be holy, and without blemish."* Hence, 
after enumerating the vices of the Heathen, the Apostle 
observed to the Corinthians : " Such some of you were : 
but you are washed ; but you are sanctified; but you are 
justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the 
Spirit of our God."t The washing of the body in this 
sacrament is accompanied with the ablution of the soul 
from the defilements of sin : sanctification and justification 
are imparted. The power of Jesus Christ operates : His 
merits plead for the sinner: the grace of the Holy Ghost 
descends ; and the baptized person becomes a tabernacle in 
which He dwells. " He that believeth, and is baptized," 
says Jesus Christ, " shall be saved. "J In baptism salvation 
is granted him in its germ, which cherished by the genial 
warmth of charity, will mature into a tree of life. 

With such divine testimonies before us declaring the 
virtue of baptism, it is astonishing that men should fancy 
it to be but a sign and token. The passage of St. Peter 
which furnishes " the Friend" with an argument against 
the use of water, serves the Baptist and others, to prove 
that water does not purify the soul, but faith, which may 
be styled the examination of a good conscience towards 
God. The text, however, says, that baptism saves us, 
that is, imparts grace unto salvation ; and when it is added, 
that it is not the cleansing from corporal defilement, but the 
answer of a good conscience, the necessary disposition to 
receive this saving grace is indicated, together with the 
consequence of its reception, whereby the soul is directed 
to God, and placed in intimate relation with Him. 

The affected spirituality of those who deny the divine 

* Eph. v. 25. f 1 Cor. vi. 11. * Mark xvi. 16. 



104 EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 

efficacy of baptism was unknown to the ancient Fathers, 
who, it is admitted by Taylor, Hinton, and other adversa- 
ries of sacramental grace, " did constantly speak of baptism 
as intrinsecally holy, and as conveying holiness."* Bishop 
Onderdonk admits that they considered regeneration as 
connected with the font.t 

The evidence of the scriptural testimonies does not strike 
some minds so forcibly as the difficulty of believing so great 
efficacy in a rite so simple. Yet this, as Tertullian re- 
marks, is a motive for admitting it, since it more plainly 
marks a work of divine power. "O wretched unbelief! 
that denies to God his perfections — simplicity and power ! 
What then must we not be astonished that death should be 
destroyed by the laver ? It is on that account the more 
worthy of belief, if it be disbelieved because it is wonder- 
ful. For what does it become the works of God to be, 
unless such as surpass all admiration ? We ourselves are 
astonished, but because we believe it."J St. Basil never 
tires describing the effects of baptism: "Baptism," he 
cries, "is the prisoner's ransom, the debtor's release, the 
death of sin, the regeneration of the soul, the splendid gar- 
ment, the inviolable character, the chariot of heaven, the 
assurance of the celestial kingdom, the gift of adoption. . . 
Now that it is declared that your soul, which you have 
defiled with every crime, can be renewed and regenerated 
by baptism, you disregard so great a benefit."§ Hinton 
admits that from the third century regeneration was gene- 
rally ascribed to baptism. " That the doctrine of the re- 
generation of the soul by baptism, in the case of infants 
especially, was held by all the Fathers from the third cen- 

* Ancient Christianity, p. 535. -j- Essay on Baptism, p. 47. 
i De Baptismo, n. 2. § Horn, in S. Bapt. 






EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 105 

tury, is too well known to admit of a doubt."* Those who 
deny the efficacy of baptism, urge for the most part ration- 
alistic objections, and direct their efforts to weaken and 
destroy the force of the scriptural testimonies. Had not the 
principle of justification by faith alone been cherished by 
Protestant interpreters, they could never have thought of 
questioning the efficacy of baptism, which is so strongly 
and clearly declared in the sacred writings : but the error 
being once admitted, every scriptural passage was bent and 
wrested, to make it fit the system. Happily the leading 
error is now exploded by a large body of Anglican divines, 
and is proclaimed by them to be a heresy, destructive of 
christian morality, and subversive of all revelation ; whence 
we may hope that the obvious meaning of the passages in 
Scripture regarding baptism will soon be by others also 
unhesitatingly acknowledged. It is impious to ask, what 
can avail a washing with water to the purification of the 
soul ? The sovereign power of God can make the simplest 
things instruments for effecting the greatest ends. When 
Naaman, the Syrian general, received a message from the 
prophet Eliseus, who ordered him to bathe seven times in 
the Jordan, in order to be cleansed of his leprosy, he felt 
i indignant, as if the remedy were too simple to be effica- 
Icious. He had expected that the prophet would have 
waited on him, and invoked divine power in his behalf, 
| and by the touch of his holy hand cleansed him from his 
| leprosy. Disappointed in his hopes, he hastened his de- 
parture, spurning the waters of Jordan, as having no heal- 
ing virtue, above the Abana and Pharphar, rivers of his 
] own country. At that moment his servants approaching 
said to him : " Father, if the prophet had bid thee do some 
* History of Baptism, by Isaac Taylor Hinton, p. 306. 



106 EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 

great thing, surely thou wouldst have done it; how much 
rather what he now hath said to thee : Wash, and thou 
shall be clean?"* The haughty soldier yielded to the re- 
monstrance, and after he had bathed seven times, according 
to the directions of the man of God, he found himself en- 
tirely cleansed. It is pride and incredulity that make men 
regard the water of baptism as inadequate to produce the 
purification of the soul. They should consider the infinite 
power of God, and His goodness equally boundless, which 
prompt Him to bestow His gifts, by this channel, on the 
Children of men. We address each one of them in the 
words of St. Basil : "We call you, O man, to life : why 
do you shun our invitation? You are invited to partake of 
good things: why do you spurn so great a favour? The 
kingdom of heaven is prepared. He who calls you does 
not deceive ; the path is easy : there is no need of length 
6f time, expense, or toil: why do you tarry? why do you 
turn away?"t 

The critical examination of the various texts of Scrip- 
ture, according to the general principles of interpretation, 
will fully sustain the Catholic doctrine: but again I appeal 
to the ancient witnesses of the faith, who whilst they 
testified what they believed, and what was the doctrine of 

the church in their time, will manifest the meaning which 

the sacred text naturally presented to minds unsophisti- 
cated and unbiassed. The very ancient author of the 
epistle ascribed by some to St. Barnabas, explaining a 
passage of the forty-seventh chapter of Ezechiel, says: 
* k lie means, that we, indeed, descend into the water full of 
sins and defilement, and come up from it, bringing forth 
fruit, having in our heart the fear and hope in Jesus, 
* 1 Kingi v. 13, | Horn* jiii. tw & Bapt. 



EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 107 

through the Spirit.",* St. Justin, the Martyr, having spoken 

of the preparations of the applicants for baptism, adds : 

tk they arc then conducted by us to a place where there is 

water, and they are regenerated, after the Same mode oj 

regeneration, win rein we ourselves were regenerated, for 
they then are washed in the water, in the name of the 

Father and Lord (rod of all, and of our Saviour Jesus 

Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, "t The repetition of the 

term regeneration might seem a studied effort to inculcate 

the virtue of the sacrament, did not the passage occur in a 
pimple narrative of christian practices* It is plain then 
that the washing with water in the name of the Divine 
Trinity, in the mind of Justin, and of the faithful generally, 

was identified with regeneration. "This passage indeed," 
bays Isaac Taylor llinton, "appears to indicate that the 
identification of baptism and regeneration was gaming 
pound in the time of Justin.":] In another place he 

writes: "Since unconsciously and of necessity we were 

horn m our first generation ... * in order that we may not 
continue to be children of necessity, or of ignorance, but of 

['lection and knowledge, and may obtain in the water the 
remission of the sins which we previously committed, the 

name of the Father and Lord God of all is invoked on him 
who wishes to he horn anew, and who repents of his trans- 

gres$i6ns*"§ St. [renaeus says: " Committing to His 
lisciples the power of regeneration (to God,) He said to 

hem: • Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name 
)f the Father, and of the Son, and of \\\v, Holy GllOSt:' "|| 

md he elsewhere complains of heretics who "frustrate the 

* § \i. | A|)ol. i. sub finem. 

t Hist, of Bapt p. 23d. $ Apol, t. a. 81. 

|| L. lii. adv. kacr. C xa.v 



108 EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 

baptism of regeneration unto God."* I may be allowed to 
adduce Tertullian once more : " Blessed is the sacra- 
ment of water," says he, "wherewith being washed, we 
are freed from the sins committed during our former blind- 
ness, and are prepared for life eternal."! The whole book of 
this very ancient writer on baptism is a splendid monument 
of the faith of its efficacy which had come down from the 
Apostles. 

Without calling up in regular succession all the witnesses 
of the ancient faith on this subject, 1 shall summon only a 
few more of the most distinguished. St. Chrysostom, ex^ 
plaining the address of St. Paul to the Corinthians, wherein 
he styled them sanctified in Christ Jesus, asks : " What is 
sanctification ? The laver, the purification. He reminds 
them of their uncleanness from which it freed them. "J 
Elsewhere he says: "This purification is called the laver 
of regeneration: for 'he saved us,' says the Apostle, ' by 
the laver of regeneration and renovation of the Holy 
Ghost.'" — •" Although one be effeminate, although he 
be a fornicator, although he be an idolater, although he 
have perpetrated any enormity whatever, and be defiled 
with any iniquity which man can contract, when he has 
fallen into this vase of water, he comes forth from these 

divine streams purer than the rays of the sun Hear 

the Apostle : ' Such indeed you were, but you have been 
justified, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the 
Spirit of our God.' — He did not merely say: 'you have 
been washed,' but also: 'you have been sanctified, you 
have been justified.' "§ 

St. Gregory Nazianzen says : "The illumination (by 

* L. i. c. xviii. -j- De Bapt. 

t In i. ad Cor. c. i. horn. i. § Ad illwninandos, cat. i. 



EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 109 

this he understands baptism) is a help of our infirmity. 
The illumination is the putting off of the flesh, the follow- 
ing of the Spirit, the communion of the Word, the recti- 
fying of the creature, the deluge of sin, the communication 
of light, the dispelling of darkness. The illumination is 
the approach to God, the pilgrimage with Christ, the sup- 
port of faith, the perfection of the mind, the key of the 
kingdom of heaven, the change of life, the end of servi- 
tude, the loosing of chains, the transformation into another 
state of being. What more shall I add ? It is the best and 
most splendid gift of God : for as the Holy of Holies and 
the Canticle of Canticles are so called to denote their com- 
prehensive and excellent qualities, so this is the holiest of 
the illustrations which are given us. . . . We call it a gift, 
a favor, baptism, unction, illumination, the garment of in- 
corruption, the laver of regeneration, the seal, and every 
honorable name. It is a gift, because bestowed on those 
who contribute nothing : it is a favor granted to debtors : 
it is baptism, sin being buried with them in the water : it 
|is an unction, because a sacred and royal rite : for priests 
land kings were anointed : it is an illumination, because 
splendid : it is a garment covering our shame : it is a laver 
twashing away sin : it is a seal, to preserve us and mark to 

horn we belong. The heavens rejoice at it: the angels 
jglorify it, on account of its kindred splendor ; it is the 
image of their beatitude : we wish to praise it with hymns, 

ut we cannot equal its excellence."* 

The harmony of the ancient Fathers in interpreting the 

acred oracles in regard to the regenerating and sanctifying 
Influence of baptism, is an evidence of the clear and strong 
maracter of the Apostolic teaching, the echo of which still 

* Orat.xl 
10 



110 EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 

remained in the church. There is no text of Scripture 
whereby the obvious meaning of the passages already ad- 
duced, and on which the Fathers dwell with emphasis, can 
be rendered questionable : but all concur to show, that sin 
is washed away, and the soul is clothed with Christ in this 
sacrament. " The doctrine of baptism (Heb. vi. 2)" says 
Dr. Pusey, " is declared as explicitly, as incidentally, and 
as variously, as that of our blessed Lord's divinity, or the 
saving truth of the Holy Trinity, with which its adminis- 
tration is inseparately blended, the belief in which it very 
chiefly upholds. For both, we have the same uniform tes- 
timony of the Church Catholic; in both cases alike, those 
who have refused to listen to the church, have failed to find 
the truth in Holy Scripture. . . . They who say, that 
' water and the Spirit' means ' the Spirit only,' or that 
' the washing of regeneration' means ' spiritual regenera- 
tion independent of any actual washing,' however they 
may commiserate the misguided people, who assail other 
Catholic truth, have nothing assuredly to allege against 
them for forced interpretations of Holy Scripture. It was 
in their own school that these systems of interpretation 
were learnt."* 

How, we are asked, is an unbeliever, or obstinate sinner 
regenerated, who, with hypocritical professions, submits 
to the baptismal rite ? The efficacy of the sacrament is not 
taken away, because an individual deprives himself of its 
benefit. Fire has the property of burning, even though a 
moist substance resist its power : water can cleanse, although 
it may fail to remove deep stains : medicine can heal, 
although the restlessness and rashness of a patient may 
frustrate its application. Every thing sublime and holy 
* Tract on Baptism, p. 58. 



EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. Ill 

proclaimed concerning baptism in the Scriptures, and by 
the Fathers is verified, provided such be the inherent effi- 
cacy of the laver, although many, through their own vicious 
dispositions, fail to experience these happy effects. It is 
not necessary to have recourse to a distinction of two species 
of regeneration in order to meet this difficulty, since the 
Fathers, who confessedly knew not the distinction, satis- 
factorily accounted for the different results ; and the Scrip- 
tures speak of but one regeneration, the new birth of the 
soul, whereby she becomes a child of God, and heir of 
heaven. The latitude with which the terms " children of 
God" are used, do not warrant us to give to the term " re- 
generation" a like extension. When, by her perverse dis- 
position, the soul remains in sin, although externally washed 
with the purifying stream, she receives indeed the charac- 
ter of a child, although she be not lovely, because destitute 
of sanctifying grace : when, through weakness, a regene- 
rated soul violates her baptismal engagements, she forfeits 
the privileges of a child, without ceasing to bear the im- 
press : wherefore, as Dr. Pusey observes, " men are not 
taught to seek for regeneration, to pray that they may be 
regenerate ; it is nowhere implied that any Christian had 
not been regenerated, or could hereafter be so."* In a 
general sense all baptized men are children of God, be- 
cause they have received that character by means of the 
sacrament of regeneration : but their final acceptance de- 
pends on their correspondence with the grace by which 
they have been raised to that dignity. The distinction be- 
tween the character impressed by the sacrament and sanc- 
tifying grace, is the proper solution of the difficulty which 

* Tract on Baptism, p. 27. 



112 EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 

has led Bishop Onderdonk to conceive a twofold regenera^ 
tion. 

Baptism was believed by the ancients to impress a spirit- 
ual character, even on the unworthy receiver, whereby the 
baptized person was distinguished from one who had not 
been baptized, and which never could be effaced; where- 
fore it was deemed sacrilege to attempt to baptize anew 
such as had been previously baptized. St. Basil, address- 
ing the believer in Christianity, who neglected baptism, 
tells him that for want of this mark, the angels will not 
recognize him as a disciple of Christ. " No one will know 
whether you belong to us, or to the enemy, if you do not 
manifest, by the mystic symbols, that you are of the house- 
hold ; if the light of the countenance of the Lord be not 
signed upon you. How shall the angel claim you? how 
shall he rescue you from the enemies, unless he recognize 
the seal ? how shall you say : I am of God ; when you 
bear not the distinctive marks ? Do you not know that the 
destroying angel passed by the houses that were marked, 
and slew the first born in such as wanted the mark ? A 
treasure which is not sealed up, can easily be laid hold on 
by thieves : a sheep without a mark may be taken away 
with impunity."* St. Augustin compares the spiritual 
character which baptism impresses, with the mark or brand, 
whereby soldiers were anciently distinguished : " Do the 
Christian sacraments," he asks, "remain less impressed 
than this mark on the body, whilst we see that not even 
apostates lose baptism, who therefore do not receive it 
anew, when they return penitent, because it is judged in- 
amissible?"t "That the wicked have, and give, and re- 
ceive the sacrament of baptism appeared sufficiently evident 

* Horn, xiii. in S. Bapt. f L. ii. contra epist. Parmen. c. xiii. 



EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 113 

to the pastors of the Catholic church spread throughout 
the world, by whom the original custom was subsequently 
confirmed by the authority of a plenary council : also that 
the sheep which strayed without the fold, and had received 
the impress of the Lord from deceitful plunderers, when 
it comes to the salvation of Catholic unity, its wandering 
should be stopped, its bondage terminated, its wound heal- 
ed, but the Lord's character should be recognized in it, 
rather than reprobated, since many wolves impress that 
character on other wolves."* This belief of the ancient 
church is supported by various passages of Scripture, 
wherein Christians are declared sealed in Christ.t The 
passages may be referred to confirmation, rather than bap- 
tism, but there is no incongruity in supposing both to be 
embraced. Dr. Pusey has eloquently expressed the force 
of the several passages: " We are declared to be ' sealed 
by the Holy Spirit,' being taken out of our state of nature, 
and marked, guarded, conformed to our Lord ; — marked 
by the sprinkling of His blood, that the destroyer may 
pass over us, and Satan have no power upon us ; guarded 
as his purchased possession and peculiar treasure, whereon 
He has affixed His seal; conformed, in that it places again 
upon us the Creator's image, renewing us after His like- 
ness, and impressing His cast, and to speak the high truth, 
His features upon our souls, as a seal gives its stamp to the 
body, whereon it is impressed. And not a present gift 
only, but an earnest also of larger gifts, proportioned to 
our youth, since the Holy Spirit was then first imparted to 
us as Christians, and as His Temple, and the ■ earnest' 



* L. vi. de Baptismo contra Donatistas, c. 1. 
f 2 Cor. i. 22. Eph. i. 13, 14 ; iv. 30. 
10* 



114 EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 

then given us is a pledge, that unless we wilfully break off 
the seal, we shall be carried on to eternal life, with larger 
instalments of our promised possession, until ' the posses- 
sion purchased' for us, by Christ's precious blood-shed- 
ding, shall be fully bestowed upon us, and God's pledge be 
altogether ' redeemed.' "* The ancient Liturgies, as Pusey 
has shown, agree in declaring baptism to be a seal whereby 
we are marked as consecrated to God. " East and West 
agree in calling baptism a seal, an impress, a guardian mark 
to those baptized ; the baptized themselves (in the language 
of the Revelations) 4 the sealed.' The Liturgies, variously 
as they use the term, still harmonize wholly with the Fa- 
thers, using it in exactly the same references, and thus the 
more evince how Christian antiquity was of one mind, the 
agreement of the Fathers attesting the antiquity of the 
Liturgies, the consent of the Liturgies proving the more 
that we have, in this consent of the Fathers, not an acci- 
dental agreement of the opinions of individuals, but the 
voice of their respective churches."! In our time, the ig- 
norance and disbelief of this spiritual character is such that 
without hesitation many preachers baptize anew those who 
join their sect; and what was once regarded as an enor- 
mous sacrilege, has become a matter of daily occurrence, 
and is perpetrated without a feeling of remorse. Even the 
bold Reformers themselves, could they re-appear on earth, 
might weep for the frequent profanation of this divine rite; 
and could they send messengers from the world of spirits 
to those who call them brethren and fathers, they would no 
doubt warn them not to trifle with the institution. 

The necessity of faith and other dispositions for the due 

reception of baptism, in no way interferes with the intrinsic 

* Tract on Baptism, p. 112. f Ibidem, p. 114 






EFFECTS OF BAPTISM. 115 

efficacy of the sacrament itself. " As in His bodily mira- 
cles," Dr. Pusey remarks, " He could not do many mighty 
works because of their unbelief, and He required in them 
who would be healed, faith in Him the Saviour of all, and 
telleth them, 'Thy faith hath saved thee,' yet was it not 
faith alone which healed them, but rather His 'virtue,' 
which 'went out of Him,' and faith was only a necessary 
condition, which, in the fitness of things, He required in 
those upon whom He should exercise His goodness ; so, 
in this His spiritual miracle of our new birth, faith removes 
the obstacle which sin presents to our receiving the divine 
influence ; it turns us to God, who by Adam's fall were 
turned away from Him ; it replaces us in a condition of 
dependence upon Him; it presents us willingly before 
Him to receive that life, which He is and communicates 
(according to their measure) to all His creatures, who de- 
pend upon Him. By one universal law, from the highest 
angel, or dominion, or power, who ' always beholdeth the 
face of our Father which is in heaven,' to the 'young 
ravens which cry unto Him,' or the 'young lions,' who, 
' roaring after their prey, do seek their meat from God ;' 
(yea, and the ' thirsty land,' which gapeth for the dew and 
rain from heaven, expresses the same law,) He hath ap- 
pointed dependence upon Him to be a condition of receiv- 
ing His gifts. Yet is not our dependance the gift for which 
we depend upon Him ; the raven's cry is not the raven's 
food ; the archangel's fixed, unvarying gaze on our Father's 
countenance is not ' the Light which in His light he seeth ;' 
our faith 1te not our baptism, nor God's gift in it."* 
* Tract on Baptism, p. 69. 



116 



CHAPTER VIII. 



ORIGIN OF THE BAPTISTS. 



Shortly after the revolt of Luther from the Catholic 
church, Thomas Muncer, one of his adherents, a native of 
Zwickau, in Misnia, pursuing to their legitimate conse- 
quences the principles of his master, denied the propriety 
of infant baptism. Luther had taught him that the personal 
persuasion of the individual of his justification in Christ 
was the means or condition of justification, and that the 
sacraments are destitute of all inherent efficacy. Muncer 
justly concluded that infants, being incapable of this per- 
sonal disposition, could not be fit subjects for baptism. 
In conjunction with Nicholas Storck, John Leyden, and 
others, he declaimed against infant baptism, and baptized 
anew such as consented to his teaching ; whence his fol- 
lowers were called Anabaptists, from the Greek terms 
corresponding to re-baptizers. It does not appear that the 
mode of baptism was as yet made a matter of dispute ; but 
before the middle of the following century, a Friesland 
peasant of the name of Uke Wallis gave rise to a sect, or 
branch of Anabaptists, who received the name of Dompe- 
lers, i. e. Dippers, from their plunging into the water all 
who sought baptism at their hands.* About the same time 
the English Anabaptists, who claim to be derived from 
the Mennonists, or Minnists of Holland, a milder branch 

* See Encyclopaedia Americana. Art. Anabaptists. 



ORIGIN OF THE BAPTISTS. 117 

of the original stock,* in a profession of faith which they 
published in 1644, declared: "The way and manner of 
dispensing of this ordinance the Scripture holds out to 
be dipping or plunging the whole body under water."t 
Featley, an Anglican divine, who wrote in 1646, speaks of 
this as a novel tenet recently ingrafted on the sect: " This 
article is wholly sowred by the new leaven of Anabap- 
tisme. I say the new leaven, for it cannot be proved that 
any of the ancient Anabaptists maintained any such posi- 
tion, there being three wayes of baptizing, either by dip- 
ping, or washing, or sprinkling, to which the Scripture 
alludeth in sundry places. "J Stephen Marshall, also, a 
Presbyterian divine, who in the same year combated the 
English Anabaptists, represents this as a novelty, whilst 
he reproaches them with retaining all the obnoxious errors 
of their German brethren: " Verily," he says, "one egge 
is not more like another than this brood of new opinions, 
(lately hatched in England, and entertained among them 
who are called Anabaptists) is like that spawne which so 
suddenly grew up among the Anabaptists in Germany. "§ 

In Holland the Anabaptists still use infusion : " The 
candidate kneels, the minister holds his hands over his 
head, the deacon pours in water, which runs through on 
the top of the head."|| Many of the obnoxious tenets of 
the German Anabaptists are utterly discarded by the Bap- 

* See Gilbert on Baptism, Tract ii. p. 115. 

-f- The Confession of Faith of (hose churches which are commonly 
(though falsely) called Anabaptists" London, anno 1644. Art. xl. 

\ A Censure of a Book printed anno 1644, intituled the Confes- 
sion of Faith, Sfc>, p. 118. 

§ "A Defence of Infant Baptism" p. 74. 

|| See Robinson's History of Baptism, ch. xxxviii 



118 ORIGIN OF THE BAPTISTS. 

tists of the present day, though some of them were pro- 
fessed by the early English Anabaptists, if we believe 
Marshall, or if we may argue from their being held by "the 
Friends," whose founder was originally of their body. 
Immediate revelation was claimed for each individual, the 
lawfulness of bearing arms and of taking oaths was de- 
nied, and the power of the civil government not fully ad- 
mitted. In these respects " the Friends" follow on their 
footsteps, although they repel as a slander the imputation 
of disaffection to the constituted authorities, and assert 
" that such of them as keep true to their principles, are as 
good members of civil society as any other people, and 
have never been found in any plots or combinations against 
the governments which in the course of providence have 
been set over them."* The Baptists bear arms and take 
oaths ; and as well as the Quakers reject polygamy, which 
was a favorite tenet of the German Anabaptists. The 
Encyclopaedia Americana says, that the Baptists are not to 
be confounded with the Anabaptists, whose principles they 
formally disclaimed. It dates the rise of the Baptists from 
the year 1620. It would appear that they were originally 
Arminians, who adopted the practice of immersion, and 
rejected the baptism of infants, and formed thereby a new 
sect. Their first confession of faith, published in 1644, 
was charged with the tenets of Arminius.t In it they com- 
plain of the appellation of Anabaptists commonly given 
them : "In their confession printed this year," says Feat- 
ley, writing at that time, " they find themselves agrieved 

* See Vindication of the Quakers, signed on behalf of the Society 
at Philadelphia, 22d of 11th month, 1799, and inserted in Mosheim's 
Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. ch. iv. 

•j- A Tractate against the Anabaptists, p. 24. 



ORIGIN OF THE BAPTISTS. 119 

with the name of Anabaptist, saying, they are falsly so 

called if Anabaptists be their nickname, what is their 

right name, whereby they may be distinguished from other 
Christians, Catholike or Hereticks?* They have hitherto 
been known in general by no other names then of Ana- 
baptists, or Catabaptists, and never a barrell better her- 
ring."* The strict followers of Calvin were soon found 
in their ranks, and accordingly in 1689 a confession of 
faith was published by a hundred congregations in England 
and Wales, which is for the most part a transcript of the 
Presbyterian confession, sanctioned by the Westminster 
Assembly in 1647. This is the general standard of Ameri- 
can Baptists, who formally adopted it in an assembly held 
at Philadelphia, September 25, 1742 ; but several Baptist 
congregations in the western part of Pennsylvania, and in 
Ohio and Kentucky, have abandoned it, and adopted the 
latitudinarian plan of Campbell, who rejects all creeds. In 
England, in the reign of Queen Anne, a large body of 
Baptists differed from the established church, chiefly on 
the subject of infant baptism, as Wall informs us: "In 
the first year of her present majesty, is published a draught 
of articles by some Antipa?dobaptists (the same I guess) to 
manifest their nearness in union with other of her majes- 
ty's Protestant subjects. There are 36 of 'em. They are 
verbatim (except 2 or 3 clauses of no moment) the same 
with 36 of the 39 articles of the church of England ; save 
that in the article of baptism they leave out that clause 
about infants' baptism."! 

Some Baptists claim a much higher origin, and assert 

* Remarkable Histories of the Anabaptists, by Daniel Feat ley, 
D. D., p. 124. 

f History of Infant Baptism, p. ii. ch. xi. 



120 ORIGIN OF THE BAPTISTS. 

that they have existed ever since the days of the Precursor ; 
which they attempt to prove by the admitted fact that bap- 
tism by immersion was practised in all ages : but this does 
not at all establish their claims to antiquity ; since the 
question is not confined to that practice, but to the tenets 
which constitute them a distinct society, or sect. They 
have, therefore, deemed it necessary to point to several 
sects which from time to time are noticed in the annals of 
the church, especially the Vaudois, and Albigenses, and 
Brethren of Bohemia ; but hitherto they have never been 
able to show any society whose tenets harmonize with 
theirs. The Brethren of Bohemia were a branch of the 
Calixtins, who, in 1457, separated themselves from the 
other followers of Huss.* They indeed rebaptized those 
who came to their sect, because they had not been bap- 
tized by their ministers ; but they practised infant baptism 
and admitted the seven sacraments, as appears from their 
confession of faith, presented to King Ladislaus in 1504. 
The Albigenses in the twelfth century were Manicheans* 
who denied baptism in water, and the lawfulness of mar- 
riage, and of oaths, and considered the Trinity and Incar- 
nation as allegories.t The Vaudois in the same century 
were originally rather schismatics than heretics, although 
subsequently they fell into several errors, but not such as 
the Baptists profess. They baptized children, admitted 
the seven sacraments, and other doctrines which these 
deny.J The attempt to show the existence of a sect hold- 
ing the tenets of the present Baptists, must always prove 

* Bossuet, History of Variations, I. xi. n. 374. 
■j- Ibidem, n. vii. to xlviii. 

* Ibidem, n. 72. See also Gilbert. Tract ii. Infant Baptism, p. 
31 to 80. 



ORIGIN OF THE BAPTISTS. 121 

abortive, since history is utterly silent ; and it is in vain to 
say that the church was hidden in the wilderness during a 
long lapse of ages, for such an assertion is gratuitous, and 
merits no attention. Public credulity is sported with, when 
men are called on to believe a fact unsustained by the least 
evidence, and asserted merely in support of an hypothesis 
otherwise untenable. Isaac Taylor Hinton, after an awk- 
ward attempt to trace the history of the Baptists, and seve- 
ral apologies for the want of documents, says, li That there 
has been, since the days of our Saviour, an uninterrupted 
succession of Baptists, if not of Baptist churches, I have 
not a moment's doubt." His conviction, however, may 
not satisfy all his readers, especially as he frequently be- 
trays an anxiety for " documentary evidence which may 
yet throw additional light on this point."* " The name of 
Baptist," as is observed by Adams, in his History of the 
Religious World, "is only of modern date and of local 
application. Anabaptists and Antipaidobaptists have been 
the usual epithets by which Christians who believed that 
the immersion of believers was baptism, had been called 
by their opposers."t At present, according to the testi- 
mony of Alexander Campbell, " the Baptist society exhi- 
bits a greater variety than any other society in Chris- 
tendom. "J This writer seeks to unite all in religious 
communion, by discarding all creeds and formularies of 
faith, and taking the Bible alone as the basis of union : and 
large bodies of Baptists throughout the Western states 
have embraced his views. 

* History of Baptism, ch. vii. §. viii. p. 295. 

f The Christian Baptist, vol. iii. p. 192. t Ibidem, p. 239. 

11 



122 ORIGIN OF THE BAPTISTS. 

So manifest was it in the twelfth century that there had 
existed no body of professing christians which had rejected 
the baptism of infants, universally practised throughout the 
church, that the novelty of the system, for the first time 
avowedly advocated by Peter de Bruis and Henry the 
Monk, called forth the animated remonstrances of the ven- 
erable Peter of Cluny : " Were all past ages," he asked the 
innovators, "so senseless, as to give a mock baptism to so 
many thousand infants, during more than a thousand years, 
and from the days of Christ down to you, to make not real 
but fantastic christians ? Has the universe been so blinded, 
and wrapt in such darkness down to this time, that to open 
its eyes, and dissipate the obscurity of so long a night, after 
so many fathers, martyrs, pontiffs and rulers of all the 
churches, it has waited so long for you ; and to correct its 
long continued error, has it chosen Peter de Bruis, and 
Henry his satellite, as recent apostles? Was the world 
thus lost until it brought forth its new reformers ; and even 
with the children of light and truth were all things carried 
on in darkness and falsehood ; so that since all those of our 
age, or within our memory have been baptized, and have 
received the christian name in infancy, and have been pro- 
moted at suitable times to the various dignities of the 
church, no bishop of bishops, no priest, no deacon, no 
clerk, no monk, not one (I say) of such a numberless 
multitude was even a christian? For he that was not bap- 
tized with the baptism of Christ was not a christian. If 
he was not a christian, he could not belong to the clergy, 
nor people, nor church. If so, it is manifest what an ab- 
surdity follows : For since all France, Spain, Germany, 
Italy, and all Europe, during three hundred years, or 



ORIGIN OF THE BAPTISTS. 123 

almost Jive hundred years, has had no one who was not 
baptized in his infancy, it had no christian. If it had no 
christian, it had no church. If it had no church, it had not 
Christ. If had not Christ it was utterly lost."* 

* Tract, contra Petrobrusianos. 



124 



CHAPTER IX. 



BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 



Opposition to the baptism of infants may be considered 
as the original distinguishing tenet of the Baptists, although 
they are now more remarkable for the practice of immer- 
sion. They teach, in their profession of faith, that "those 
who do actually profess repentance towards God, faith in, 
and obedience to our Lord Jesus, are the only proper sub- 
jects of this ordinance." The Presbyterians, on the con- 
trary, say: "Not only those that do actually profess faith 
in and obedience unto Christ, but also the infants of one or 
both believing parents are to be baptized ;" thus virtually 
excluding the infants of parents, neither of whom claims to 
possess justifying faith.* The Anglican articles declare: 

* Calvin and his followers ground the practice of baptizing infants 
on the principle, that the covenant of God is with the faithful and 
their posterity : whence they restrict it to the children of believers, 
who being embraced in the covenant, have a right to receive the sign 
of association with the visible church. See a Discussion on Christian 
Baptism, by W. L. McCalla, Philadelphia, 1828. This partial cove- 
nant, however, is gratuitously supposed, and cannot be inferred from 
the ancient covenant made with Abraham and his seed. Gen. xvii. 7. 
The Gospel of salvation is directed to every creature ; the blessings of 
the new covenant are proffered to every individual of the human 
family; and children are capable of baptism, independently of the 
dispositions of their parents. By this sacrament they are made part- 
ners of the new covenant. The text of the Apostle concerning the 
children of a Heathen parent and a convert to Christianity, whose 



BAPTISM OF INFANT?. 125 

"The baptism of young children is in any wise to be 
retained in the church, as most agreeable with the institu- 
tion of Christ."* The Catholic church holds that all in- 
fants are capable of baptism, independently of the piety or 
faith of their parents, although the children of unbelievers 
are not to be baptized, against the will of their parents, or 
in circumstances that expose the sacrament to manifest 
profanation. 

The necessity of baptism for salvation being established, 
the admissibility of infants to this divine rite naturally fol- 
lows. All of us are by nature children of wrath, being 
stained by sin : baptism is the laver wherein sin is washed 
away : it must, then, be applicable to the infant, unless it 
be maintained that the blood of the New Testament was 
not shed for the remission of the hereditary sin. The child 
of earth needs a heavenly birth : he must be born anew to 
God of water and the Holy Ghost; for the sentence is 
most express : " unless a man be born again of water and 

children he declares holy, gives no countenance to the error of Calvin. 
The Apostle forbad the christian to dissolve the marriage relation, 
which had previously existed, and declared it lawful, and likely to 
prove the occasion in many instances of the conversion of the unbe- 
liever, and the christian education of the offspring: "for the unbeliev- 
ing husband is sanctified by the believing wife ; and the unbelieving 
wife is sanctified by the believing husband : otherwise your children 
should be unclean; but now they are holy." 1 Cor. vii. 14. This 
holiness implied the legitimacy of the marriage connexion, and the 
opportunity afforded of sanctification by the christian sacraments, and 
christian education. " Hinc enim et Apostolus ex sanctificato alterutro 
sexu sanctos procreari ait, tarn ex seminis prasrogativa, quam ex insti- 
tutions disciplina." Tertullianus de anima, c. xxxix. See this text 
afterwards quoted and explained : see also St. Augustin, 1. i. de Serm. 
Dom. c. xxvii. 

11* 



126 BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 

the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of 
God."* The term *w has been already shown to imply 
any one, and to regard every member of the human family. 
Infants then must be capable of baptism, unless they be 
incapable of salvation. Who would venture to deny that 
they can be saved of whom Christ has said: " Suffer chil- 
dren to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is 
the kingdom of God ?"t This argument was urged with 
much force by Peter, Abbot of Cluny, against the followers 
of Peter de Bruis, in the twelfth century: "Jesus em- 
braced them. Jesus laid his hands upon them. Jesus 
blessed them. Will you any longer, not with manly con- 
stancy, but with pertinacious malice, dare repel infantile 
innocence from Christ? Will you, against the will of 
Christ himself, snatch the children from Christ who em- 
braces children, from Christ who lays his hands on chil- 
dren, from Christ who blesses children ?"J Baptists con- 
tend that our Lord meant such persons as resemble children 
in simplicity and innocence : yet as children were the 
subject of His observation, they must at least be comprised 
in His words. Besides, Baptists hold that children attain 
to the kingdom, even without baptism, and reproach us 
with establishing a condition for salvation, whereof our 
Lord made no mention, in circumstances which seemed to 
demand it.§ Had He not on other occasions declared the 
necessity of the new birth by water and the Spirit, for 
each one who is born of flesh, we should not surely allege 
such a condition : but in the face of His positive declara- 
tion, we dare not promise it on any other terms : and the 

* John iii. 5. | Luke xviii. 15. tfct /3ps<J»7 infants. 

+ Tract adv. Petrobrusianos. 

§ See Booth's Paedobaptlsm Examined, ch. xi. § iv. 



BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 127 

manifestation of His condescension and love towards chil- 
dren, is evidence of His will that they should be thus born 
anew, and find entrance into His kingdom. The occasion 
did not require that our Lord should then state this condi- 
tion : and the omission is no plea against His positive law 
elsewhere recorded. 

All the scriptural texts which speak of baptism as a 
washing, a renovation of the Holy Spirit, warrant the bap- 
tism of infants : they must be washed in the blood of the 
Lamb from the hereditary defilement: they must be re- 

; newed by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, that 
bearing the image of God, they may be associated with the 
blessed spirits of His kingdom. " Where the language of 
Holy Scripture is unlimited," says Dr. Pusey, "we are 

i not to restrain it. But Holy Scripture speaks universally ; 

! it says ' the washing of regeneration and of the renewing 
of the Holy Ghost,' 'born of water and the Spirit;' how 
then are we to say, that because our infants are not in like 
way decayed, through actual sin, as were those adults to 
whom St. Paul wrote, therefore they are not regenerated 
and renewed ? This would involve the very error of Pela- 
gius, that they needed no renewal, no ' new birth,' having 
no 'birth sin.'"* Christ loved children, and delivered 
Himself up for them, that He might sanctify them, in the 
laver of water. They therefore come forth from the font 
purified, justified, sanctified, having no spot or wrinkle, or 
any such thing. They are objects of the gratuitous bounty 
of God: they are fruits of the plentiful redemption of 
Christ, and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of the Psalm- 
ist: " Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings thou hast 
perfected praise."! 

The words of the commission given by Christ to the 
* Trad on Baptism, p. 55. f Psalm viii. 3. 



128 BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 

Apostles, appear to some to confine baptism to those who, 
being taught, believe the gospel, "go teach all nations, 
baptizing them :" " preach the gospel to every creature. 
He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved." But 
candor would avow that both texts are at least inconclusive 
against the baptism of infants : for as Christ was then send- 
ing the Apostles to preach His gospel to the world, the 
mention of baptism must naturally follow instruction and 
faith, since it is only thus men could be prepared for its 
reception. Whether infants should be baptized, cannot be 
inferred with certainty from the words of the commission, 
although their universality warrants their application to 
every one who needs to be washed from the hereditary de- 
filement. It is bad logic to say, that because the gospel is 
to be preached to adults, and their faith in its truth is to be 
required before baptism be administered to them, infants 
are to be treated after the same manner. 

The objections usually- taken from the requisition of faith 
and repentance in adult candidates for baptism, are of no 
avail whatever with regard to infants : they only prove the 
necessity of these dispositions in adults without at all indi- 
cating that infants are hot capable of the sacrament, be- 
cause they cannot conceive faith or repentance. Peter justly 
exhorted the Jewish converts to cherish the sentiments of 
compunction which they began to experience, that so they 
might be disposed to receive the remission of sins in bap- 
tism.* Philip required the sincere faith of the eunuch, 
that he might be made partaker of the sanctifying sacra- 
ment. But in neither instance was it declared that these 
dispositions w T ere so essential as to confine the administra- 
tion of baptism to adults capable of faith and repentance. 
* Acts ii. 33, 



BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 129 

We, no less rigorously, require faith and compunction in 
the adult candidates for baptism, though we constantly ad- 
minister the sacrament to the tender infant. 

But, then, it may be asked, on what authority can they 
be baptized ? If the commission do not regard them, they 
are necessarily beyond its reach, and the attempt to baptize 
them is an unauthorized measure. I care not to answer 
with some that the term rendered " teach," may be under- 
stood of making disciples,* and initiating into the school 
of Christ. Neither shall I allege, as a matter of mere in- 
ference, the divine command that each male infant on the 
eighth day after his birth should be circumcised, and thus 
incorporated with the people of God : whence, it is said, 
the Apostles must have understood that infants should be 
admissible to the Christian rite which supersedes circum- 
cision, especially inasmuch a§ the children of proselytes 

* Rosenmuller in locum, contends that fw^tsvaa^s, which means 
to make disciples, may be understood of taking into the number of 
followers of Christ infants, who are afterwards to be instructed. I do 
not, however, choose to rely on this verbal criticism, as the most ob- 
vious meaning of the term is to instruct effectually, so as to bring over 
to the number of disciples and believers those who were strangers to 
the truth. It is used of a scribe thoroughly instructed in heavenly 
truth, pa£rj't£v$£i$, Mat. xiii. 52, and of Joseph of Arimathea, who 
was instructed by our Divine Master, and believed in him. Matt, xxvii. 
57. Protestant writers have been led to forced explanations of words of 
» Scripture, to sustain the principle that all things necessary for salva- 
| tion can be proved from it. Without the aid of tradition, the prac- 
tice of baptizing infants cannot be satisfactorily vindicated, the Scrip- 
tural proofs on this point not being thoroughly conclusive : yet we do 
not, on this account, neglect the arguments which it furnishes, and 
which have considerable force. See Gilbert on Baptism, tract, ii» 
Preface, p. vi. 



130 BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 

are said to have been washed with water, when their pa- 
rents were admitted to Jewish privileges.* I do not at all 
allow that the Apostles were left to guess their Master's 
will from any such circumstance, but I maintain that they 
were instructed by Him in the sacred functions entrusted 
to them, and were enlighted by the Holy Spirit, that they 
might not err. The divine ordinance on this point must 
be learned from their teaching and their acts, as recorded 
in Scripture, or in the want of decisive evidence of this 
sort, from the teaching and practice of the church which 
they founded. 

That circumcision, indeed, had yielded to baptism, is 
evident from the teaching of St. Paul, who addresses the 
faithful as circumcised spiritually, by their death and burial 
with Christ in baptism : " In whom also you are circum- 
cised with circumcision no* made by hand, in despoiling 
of the body of the flesh, but in the circumcision of Christ : 
buried with him in baptism."! It would be easy to exhibit 
a series of ancient witnesses, who, following the Apostolic 
teaching, speak of the Christian rite as a spiritual circum- 

* Rosenmuller remarks ; " For since the Apostles well knew that 
the infant children of proselytes from among the Gentiles were not 
only styled proselytes and circumcised, as the Mischna informs us, but 
were also baptized, (as Wetsten fully proves from the Gemara, when 
writing on Matt. iii. 6,) it could not occur to them to expunge chil- 
dren and infants from the* list of disciples, or to repel them from bap- 
tism, unless they were expressly excepted and excluded by Christ, of 
which we find no mention. 

f Col. ii. 11. Some cavil because circumcision was practised for a 
time among Jewish converts : but it is plain that baptism for the Gen- 
tile converts held its place ; and the simultaneous practice of both by 
the Jews, through a wise economy, does not show that circumcision 
was not finally to yield to baptism. 



BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 131 

cision, freed from the limitations which circumscribed the 
carnal observance. St. Justin,* St. Cyprian, with the 
fathers of the council of Carthage,t St. Gregory of Nazi* 
anzum,J St. Epiphanius,§ St. Chrysostom, St. Augustin,|| 
in a word, all the Fathers point to baptism as to Christian 
circumcision. I shall only recite the testimony of St. 
Chrysostom : " Our circumcision, I mean the grace of 
baptism, is a remedy which gives no pain, and is to us the 
instrument of numberless blessings, and fills us with the 
grace of the Spirit. And it has no determinate time as cir- 
cumcision had ; but it is lawful to receive the circumcision 
; which is not made with hands, at the tenderest age, and in 
manhood, and even in old age itself. There is no labor to 
be endured, but we have only to cast off the burthen of 
our sins, and accept the pardon of all our transgressions in 
i our past life."^f 

We are challenged to show that the Apostles baptized 
infants. Had we a detailed enumeration of their ministe- 
rial acts, the challenge would be reasonable ; but the book 
styled their Acts contains only some of the chief facts 
which marked the origin, and proved the divine au- 
thority of the Christian church. Yet even there it is said 
that Lydia " was baptized and her household,"** and the 
(jailor " was baptized and presently all his family ;"tt and 
St. Paul testifies that he " baptized also the household of 
|Stephanas."J± It cannot indeed be proved that infants 
^were in these families ; but the presumption is that there 
were, and the general expressions naturally lead us to con- 

* Dial, cum Tryph. f Ep. ad Fidum. + Or. xl. in S. Bapt. 
§ Contra Cerinthianos. 

|| L. iv. de Bapt. contra Donat. c. xxiii. ^ Horn. xl. in Gen. 

** Acts xvi. 15. ff Acts xvi. 33. ** 1 Cor. i. 16. 



132 BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 

sider the baptism of all the children as following the con- 
version of the parent. 

The ancient practice of baptizing infants, of which the 
origin at any period subsequent to the Apostolic age can- 
not be pointed out, is the strongest presumptive evidence 
of their practice. 

St. Justin the Martyr speaks of " many persons of both 
sexes, sixty or seventy years old, who from childhood had 
been devoted to Christ, and persevered in virginity unto 
that age."* Although the terms employed do not express 
their baptism in infanc}^, they certainly afford ground for 
believing it, for their early instruction in the doctrines of 
Christ, and their enrolment among his disciples, are easily 
understood on this hypothesis. Besides, Justin elsewhere 
calls baptism circumcision : " We have received circumci- 
sion, not that which is according to the flesh, but spiritual, 
such as Enoch and such like had ; but we have received it 
by baptism, since we had been sinners, and have obtained 
mercy from God, and all can obtain it in like manner."! 
St. Irenaeus, who flourished not long after, is more ex- 
press on this point: "Christ," he says, "being our Mas- 
ter, sanctified every age by the similitude which was after 
His own model : for He came to save all through Himself, 
all, I say, who are born anew to Cod through Him, in- 
fants and little ones, boys and youths and aged persons. "J 
Infants, then, in the middle of the second century, were 
believed to be born anew to God, and sanctified in Christ. 

* Oo sx rtalScov £fj,a$Yi't£v6ri6av tfco xptttco. Literally: " who from 
children were disciplined to Christ," or were taught the doctrines of 
Christ. Apol. i. prope ab initio. 

f Dial, cum Tryphone. 

\ L. ii. adv. haer. c. xx. alias xxxix. 



BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 133 

These terms were already consecrated to express the effect 
of baptism, since Ireneus calls the Apostolic commission to 
baptize the power of regenerating, and Justin speaks of it 
as regeneration : both writers evidently alluding to the new 
birth of water and the Holy Ghost, the necessity whereof 
our Divine Redeemer had declared to Nicodemus. Origen, 
speaking of original sin, observes: " Of it David must be 
considered as speaking when he says : ' in sins hath my 
mother conceived me :' for no sin of his mother is recorded 
in history. For it also the church received the tradition 
from the Apostles to give baptism even to infants. For 
they to whom the secrets of the divine mysteries were 
entrusted knew that there was in all real defilement of sin, 
which should be washed away by water and the Spirit, on 
account of which the body itself is called the body of sin."* 
This positive evidence given by a writer not much more 
than a century distant from the Apostolic age,t is strength- 
ened by the fact that every where throughout the church 
the practice of baptizing infants then existed, and that no 

* Orig. in Ep. ad Rom. 1. v. ad cap. vi. n. 9, p. 565, torn* iv. ed. P. 
Caroli de la Rue. 

-(■ Attempts have been made to call the authenticity of this passage 
in question, because the original is lost, and Rufinus is blamed by St. 
Jerom for having veiled and corrected the errors of Origen ; but the 
conformity of the passage with another in the commentary on Luke, 
(Horn, in Luc. xiv.) translated by St. Jerom himself, leaves no room 
for doubt. The same text from the book of Job is quoted in both 
places, and the practice of baptizing infants is plainly attested, although 
the source of it, namely, the tradition of the Apostles, is only pointed 
out in the commentary on the Romans. This, however, takes nothing 
from the testimony, since no one has accused Rufinus of making addi- 
tions to the text, and the fact of the universal practice of infant bap- 
tism at that early period is itself a full voucher of its Apostolic origin. 

12 



134 BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 

vestige appeared of its introduction subsequently to the 
time of the Apostles. Two centuries later, St. Augustin 
urged this argument with considerable effect.* 

A splendid testimony was given in the middle of the 
third century to the expediency of the earliest possible 
administration of baptism to infants. Fidus, a prelate of 
the African church, regarding circumcision as its type, 
thought it desirable that it should not be conferred before 
the eighth day, that thus the reality might correspond with 
the figure. He communicated his views to St. Cyprian, 
who with sixty-five other bishops held a council at Car- 
thage. Hear the answer of Cyprian and his colleagues : 
"As to what regards the cause of infants, who, you said, 
should not be baptized on the second or third day after 
their birth, but that the law of ancient circumcision should 
be considered; so that you did not think, that the child 
should be baptized before the eighth day : far different was 
the judgment of all in our council: for no one assented to 
that which you thought expedient ; but on the contrary we 
all judged that the mercy and grace of God should be de- 
nied to no human being from the moment of his birth. . . . 
If even to the greatest delinquents, who have previously 

* Featley thus presses the same argument: "All Apostolicall tradi- 
tions (which are truly such) ought to be had in reverent esteem, and 
retained in the church. For what the Apostles delivered, they received 
from Christ himself, either by word of mouth, or the infallible inspira- 
tion of his Spirit: such things are part of that sacrum depositum, 
which Timothy is charged so deeply, ( Timothy keep, that which 
is committed unto thee) and the Thessalonians to keep, Stand fast 
and keep 7tapa$otf£^, word for word, the traditions, which you have 
been taught either by word or by our epistle. But the baptism of 
children is an Apostolicall tradition. Ergo, it ought to be had in high 
esteem and retained in the church." "The Dipper dipt" p. 37. 



BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 135 

sinned much against God, the remission of sins is granted, 
when afterwards they believe, and no one is repelled from 
baptism and grace; how much less should the infant be 
repelled, who being recently born, has committed no sin, 
but being carnally born according to Adam, has contracted 
at his first birth the contagion of the ancient death ? He 
the more easily approaches to receive the remission of sins, 
for this very reason, that not his own sins, but the sins of 
another are forgiven him."* In this decision St. Augustin 
observes that St. Cyprian made no new decree, but main- 
tained most firmly the faith of the church. "t " The matter 
was not determined or established in the council as some- 
thing new, or as something that suffered any contradiction 
on the part of any one. ... It was judged in the council 
that on any day aid should be given to man after his birth, 
lest he be lost for ever."J 

So manifest was the tradition and faith of the whole 
church in regard to infant baptism, that Pelagius and his 
abettors, whilst they denied original sin, did not venture to 
call in question the propriety of baptizing infants : " They 
granted," says St. Augustin, " that children should be 
baptized, not being able to run counter to the authority of 
the universal church, delivered beyond doubt by Christ and 
his Apostle. "§ Pelagius, in a letter addressed to Pope 
Innocent, complained that "he was slandered as denying 
to infants the sacrament of baptism, and promising the 

* Ep. ad Fidum. 

•j- " Cyprianus non novum aliquod decretum condens, sed Ecclesiae 
fidem firmissimam servans." Ep. ad Hleronym. olim. 28 in PP. S, 
Mauri edit. 167, c. 8. n. 23. 

t De peccat. mer. et rem. 1. iii. c. 5, alias n. 10 and 11. 

§ Be pecc. mer. et rem. c. 26. 



136 BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 

kingdom of heaven to some without the redemption of 
Christ" . . . and said "that he had never heard any here- 
tic, however impious, affirm such things concerning in- 
fants."* They contended nevertheless that it was admin- 
tered, not to wash away any hereditary defilement, but to 
give the infant a title to the kingdom of heaven. Augustin, 
and with him the whole church, maintained that the sacra- 
ment was necessary for the forgiveness of original sin, as 
well as to entitle us through Christ to supernatural beati- 
tude. 

The practice of the Africans was so uniform on this 
point, that in the great schism of the Donatists, they, as 
well as the Catholics, continued to baptize their infants, 
and no doubt was ever excited as to the validity of the act, 
or the propriety of the practice. Various canons were 
made in the councils of Carthage, celebrated at the close of 
the fourth century, and beginning of the fifth, concerning 
the ordination of persons baptized in infancy by the Dona- 
tists, which was sanctioned.! 

Pope Siricius, writing to Himerius, Bishop of Aragon 
in Spain, reproves the custom of baptizing adults on many 
festivals of the year, and orders the general practice of 
baptizing only at Easter and Pentecost to be observed : 
but declares it to be his will that infants, and persons in 
danger be baptized at any time without delay : " As we 
affirm that the respect for the Paschal solemnity should be 
in no respect lessened, so it is our will that infants, who on 
account of their tender age cannot yet speak, and all who 
for any necessity may have need of the sacred waters of 

* Apud Aug. de pecc. orig. c. xyii. xviii. 

-j- Cone. Carth. iii. anno 397, oan. xlviii. Cone. Carth. iv. anno 
401, can. lvii. Codex Canonum EccL Africanae. 



BAPTISM OF INFANTS, 137 

baptism, should be assisted with all speed : lest it tend to 
the injury of our souls, if having denied the sacred fountain 
to those who desired it, each one going forth from the world 
lose both the kingdom and life."* 

The known practice and faith of all christian antiquity 
led the council of Carthage in 418, to anathematize who- 
soever assailed the baptism of infants, or denied that it was 
conferred for the remission of sin. The council decreed 
that " whosoever denies that infants newly born should be 
baptized, or says that they are baptized indeed for the re- 
mission of sins, but that they derive nothing of original sin 
from Adam, which should be expiated by the laver of re- 
generation, (whence it follows that the form of baptism for 
the remission of sins is understood to be not true, but false, 
in their regard) let him be anathema. Since what the 
Apostle says : ' By one man sin entered into the world, and 
by sin death, and so death passed on all men, in whom all 
have sinned ;' is to be understood no otherwise than as the 
Catholic church every where diffused has always under- 
stood it. For an account of this rule of faith, even infants, 
who as yet could commit no sin themselves, are truly bap- 
tized for the remission of sins, that what they have con- 
tracted by generation, may be cleansed by regeneration."! 

It is satisfactory to find the argument drawn from tradi- 
tion urged by Anglican divines, although inconsistently 
with their opposition to the teaching and practice of the 
church on other points. Featley says : " this argument, if 
it bee well weighed, is of very great moment, and may 
convince the conscience of any ingenuous christian. For 
no christian doubteth, but that the Apostles were inspired 
by the Holy Ghost, and Christ promised his Spirit to leade 

* C. ii. f Cone. Carthag. can. ii. 

12* 



138 BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 

his church into all truth ; which promise he hath hitherto 
made good in such sort, that it cannot be proved that ever 
the whole church of Christ universally erred."* The 
qualifying terms thrown in cannot weaken the force of the 
authorities and reasoning. He elsewhere recurs to the 
same argument on another point, observing that it is not 
the mere antiquity and universality of the practice on 
which we rely, but the promises of Christ to his church 
by which she is guaranteed from error : " The strength of 
the argument lyeth not in bare antiquity, and the univer- 
sality of this practice, (for we know many errours are 
ancient, and some abuses very spreading) but in the nature 
and condition of the catholike christian church, to whom 
Christ hath promised his perpetual presence, and the guid- 
ance of his Spirit into all truth ; in which regard the Apostle 
style th it ' the pillar and ground of truth.' "t 

The Anglican Bishop Taylor observes : " Since the effi- 
cacy of the sacraments depends upon divine institution and 
immediate benediction, and that they produce their effects 
independently upon man, in them that do not hinder their 
operation ; since infants cannot, by any acts of their own, 
promote the hope of their own salvation, which men of 
reason and choice may, by acts of virtue and election ; it is 
more agreeable to the goodness of God, the honour and 
excellency of the sacrament, and the necessity of its insti- 
tution, that it should in infants supply the want of human 
acts and free obedience : which the very thing itself seems 
to say it does, because its effect is from God, and requires 
nothing on man's part, but that its efficacy be not hindered. 

* The Dippers dipt, p. 13. 

f A confutation of A. R. his tractate intituled the Vanity of Chil- 
dren's Baptism, p. 63. 



BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 139 

And then in infants the disposition is equal, and the neces- 
sity more; they cannot ponere obicem and hy the same 
reason cannot do other acts, which, without the sacra- 
ments, do advantages towards our hopes of heaven, and 
therefore have more need to be supplied by an act and an 
institution divine and supernatural."* To suppose, as some 
do, that a wrong is done to infants in subjecting them by 
baptism to the observance of the laws of God and of His 
church, is not rightly to appreciate the privileges it confers. 
Man cannot withdraw himself from the authority of God, 
and it is therefore an inestimable happiness to find himself 
by baptism placed in close relation to the Deity, with a title 
to receive through Christ all necessary aid for the fulfilment 
of the divine commands. " Who can tell," writes Dr. 
Pusey, " to how many thousands, or tens of thousands, this 
same doctrine has been the blessed means of a continued 
child-like growth in grace, who have been silently grow- 
ing up, supported by the inestimable privilege of having 
been made God's children, before they themselves knew 
good or evil ; who have on the whole been uniformly kept 
within Christ's fold; and are now 'heartily thanking their 
heavenly Father for having called them' thus early to this 
state of salvation, into which, had it been left to their frail 
choice, they had never entered; who rejoice with 'joy un- 
speakable and full of glory,' that they were placed in the 
ark of Christ's church, and not first called, of themselves to 
take refuge in it out of the ruins of a lost world. "t 

Against the weight of testimony, by which the general 
practice of baptizing infants, in the fourth, third, and se- 
cond centuries, in virtue of the precept and examples of the 

* Discourse on the Liberty of Prophesying, sect* xviii. 
\ Tract on Baptism, p. 13. 



140 BAPTISM OF imwn rs, 

Apostles, is established, Baptist writers struggle in vain. 
Sometimes they contend that no proof exists of it, save the 

solitary testimony of Origen : but they forget that he does 
not speak of the practice of a particular place, much less oi 
a fact known only to himself, but of the general practice oi' 

the church derived from the tradition o( the Apostles : and 
that his testimony is fully sustained by St. Cyprian and his 
colleagues in council, who not long after, maintained the 
usage, and rejected a slight modification of it. Before him 
Tertnllian avowed the practice, whilst following the natural 
severity of his disposition, he endeavoured to modify it, by 
suggesting that the children oi unbelievers should not be 
admitted to baptism, until they were instructed in the 
christian mysteries, lest they might prove recreant to the 
engagements made in their names by their sponsors. 
"Therefore," says he in his book on baptism, " accord- 
ing to the condition and disposition, and even age oi each 
one, the delay o( baptism is more useful, particularly with 
regard to children. For what necessity is there. * unless 
it be altogether m . that their sponsors should be 

even involved m danger, who themselves dying may leave 
their promises unaccomplished, and may be deceived by 
the event oi a perverse disposition. The Lord indeed says : 
id them not to conic to me* Let them, therefore, 
come in youth: let them come when they learn: let them 
come when they are instructed whither they come : let 
them become christians, when they can know Christ. 
Why does the innocent age hasten to the remission oi 
sins- Greater caution is used in worldly affairs, so that 

* IVnullian's oibscuM phnse, " Si nan I sse," I have thus 

translated, according to the sense attached to it by a learned com- 
mentator. 



tm 01 nn 11m l \ l 

the divine labstance if intrusted to him, to whom all earthly 

subst a intrusted. For do less reason the unmar- 

ried .should also be delayed, in whom temptation . 

for virgin- rant of their maturity, for widows on ac- 

count of their wandering, until they are married, or forti- 
fied in continence. Those who understand the importance 
of baptism, will fear rather its reception, than its delay. ? ' x 
It may be said that there is nothing in the text to confine 
- ingestion of delay to the children of unbelievers;! 
but the danger on which he grounds it, and the circum- 
stances of the times warrant this interpretation; and Ter- 
tullian himself, explaining the words of St. Paul, that the 
children of a believing parent yoked with an unbeliever 
are holy, observes that the Apostle "gives us to understand 
that the children of the faithful were designed for hoi 
and thereby for salvation : that the pledges of this hope 
might sanction those marriages, which he had judged should 

* Ch. xviii. 

•j- Pamelius thus understands hirn. Hinton says that u these chil- 
dren were probably taken, from benevolence, from parents who were 
pagans." Battery of Baptism, p. 249. A Presbyterian divhv 
phen Marshall, in 1646, wrote thus : "But before wee part with Ter- 
tullian, give mee leave to ask the question, whether the dissuasion 
may not reasonably bee interpreted of the infants of infidelLs ] be- 
cause in that chapter Tertullian speakes of the baptisme of such as 
were not born of Christian parents, (such as the Eunuch and St 
Paul,) and therefore bee desires that the baptism of such infants bee 
deferred, till they came to yeares, and were able to make confession 
of their sinnes, and profession of their faith, their parents being inn- 
dells, and their sponsors mortal ; for what (saith hee) though these 
infants may have some sponsors to undertake for their Christian edu- 
cation, yet their sponsors may die before they are capable of instruc- 
tion." A Defence of Infant Baptism, p. 36. 



142 BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 

remain inviolate. Otherwise he was mindful of the sen- 
tence of the Lord : * Unless one be born of water and the 
Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of God,' that 
is, he shall not be holy. Therefore every soul is consider- 
ed in Adam, until it be numbered in Christ, and it is un- 
clean until it be so numbered, and it is sinful because it is 
unclean."* Since then Tertullian acknowledges that even 
the children of the faithful are destitute of holiness, and of 
Christian privileges, nay, defiled and sinful, until born of 
water and the Holy Ghost, we are authorized to believe 
that he would not have them left in that condition, on ac- 
count of the remote danger of their violating their baptis- 
mal engagements, a danger which parental care might 
almost entirely remove. He himself expressly directs that 
laymen should baptize in case of extreme necessity, lest 
the infant, for want of this sacrament, be deprived of life 
eternal: " Let it be sufficient for you to use the right, if 
the circumstance of the place, or of the time, or of the per- 
son compel you to do so. For the boldness of him who 
succours is excused when the circumstance of danger is 
impending. Since he must be held guilty of the loss of a 
human soul who omits to do what he might have freely 
performed. "t He did not doubt of the validity of baptism 
administered to infants, even in cases wherein he deemed 
it inexpedient because of the danger of subsequent apos- 
tacy, since he said that for the same reason the baptism of 
young maids and widows should be delayed, to whom cer- 
tainly it could be validly administered. 

Hinton, perceiving the proof of the practice of infant 
baptism afforded by the opposition of Tertullian to it in 
those special cases, dissents from the Protestant German 
* L. de anima, c. xl. f De Bapt, c. xvii. 



BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 143 

critics, and from all theological writers generally, to follow 
Robinson, who considers Tertullian as disputing the pro- 
priety of baptizing grown children, not babes.* This new 
discovery is sustained by supposing that Tertullian speaks 
of children who come and ask for baptism ; whereas, he 
suggests the delay that they may come and ask for it. The 
mere inspection of the text, which Hinton has strangely 
mistranslated, takes away all semblance from this curious 
hypothesis. Tertullian expressly speaks of little ones in 
the age of innocence, and willingly agrees that they should 

j be admitted to baptism in adolescence.! 

That Tertullian speaks of a practice generally prevail- 
ing, which he only sought in a slight degree to modify, in 
regard to a certain class of infants, is sufficiently clear : and 

| the testimonies of Origen and Cyprian, following within 

( less than half a century, show that the baptism of infants 
was common to the whole church. Besides, let it be ob- 

! served, that Tertullian held those principles with which 
infant baptism is closely connected, according to the avowal 

j of Baptist writers. He held baptism to be a means of 
cleansing the soul from the defilement of sin, an incorpo- 
ration with Christ, a new birth of water and the Holy 

j Ghost, and a necessary condition for salvation : whence it 

j would be fair to infer, even if we had not positive testi- 
mony affirming it, that he admitted the baptism of infants. 
Hinton points out " the doctrines always found in direct 
connection with the fact of infant baptism. First, then, we 
find the idea that the administration of the outward ordi- 
nance to the infant, is invariably attended with immediate 

* History of Baptism p. 250. 

f " Veniant ergo, dum adolescunt." L. de Bapt. n. 18. The whole 
passage is incorrectly rendered by Hinton. 



144 BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 

and concurrent spiritual blessings of the highest conse- 
quence."* " The doctrine of the fathers of infant bap- 
tism," it is thus he brands those who merely acted on the 
precedents of the Apostles, " was, that the soul was re- 
generated in the act of baptism. When it came to be be- 
lieved that regeneration could, except in very particular 
cases, (of which infancy was not deemed one,) be had only 
in baptism, it became clearly an act alike of duty and bene- 
volence to baptize babes, and in cases of danger, at the 
earliest possible opportunity."! 

St. Gregory, of Nazianzum, proposed the delay of bap- 
tism until the age of three years, that the infant might have 
some perception of the rite ; but in cases of danger he 
willed that the infant should be at once baptized, judging 
it " better that he should be sanctified unconsciously, than 
that he should depart from life unsealed and uninitiated.''^ 
" Have you an infant?" he asks: "let not malice be be- 
forehand ; let him be sanctified from infancy : let him be 
consecrated to the Spirit from tender age."§ And he pro- 
ceeds to show that the fear of their future misconduct is 
not a ground for withholding the sanctifying sacrament from 
them : so that on this point he explodes the reasoning of 
Tertullian. In a subsequent part of his discourse he re- 
turns to the same point, and explains himself as favorable 
to the delay of baptism until children attain the age of three 
years; when no danger is imminent: " What do you say 
of infants, not yet sensible of their lost condition, or of the 

* History of Baptism, p. 298. 
f History of Baptism, p. 306. 

\ KpEL<56ov yap uvabO^yj'tus ayiuoctyjvav, r\ a7it r k9Etv aatypaytGta, xal 
arsTifcfta. Orat. xl. in S. Bapt. 
§ Orat.xl. 17. 



BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 145 

baptismal grace ? Shall we baptize them likewise ? By all 
means, if any clanger impends : for it is better that they 
should be sanctified unconsciously, than that they should 
depart unsealed and unitiated : and for this practice circum- 
cision, which was performed on the eighth day, affords us 
a reason, inasmuch as it was a typical seal, and was applied 
to those destitute of the use of reason. ... As to others, 
I give my opinion, that the age of three years, or a shorter 
or longer time, should be awaited, when they may hear 
something of the mysterious rite, and may answer, although 
not perfectly understanding, yet being imbued therewith, 
may be sanctified in soul and body by the great mystery 
of perfection."* He observes that they are not account- 
able, until they attain to the full use of reason, but that they 
should, nevertheless, be sanctified by baptism, at least at 
this period : " for the faults committed through ignorance 
they are not responsible, on account of their tender age, 
but it is altogether desirable that they should be protected 
by the laver, on account of the sudden attacks and dangers, 
and the strong aid which it affords."! He expressly re- 
futes the objection taken from the age at which Christ was 
baptized, by observing that he did not need baptism . Hinton 
acknowledges that Gregory deemed baptism necessary to 
infants.J 

Some particular instances of baptism, received in adult 
age, are usually objected against us, but which in no way 
establish the general principle, that it cannot be validly or 
lawfully administered in infancy. The only grounds for 
delay among ancient Christians, were the great sanctity of 

* Orat. 28. f Ibidem. 

t History of Baptism, p. 307. 
13 



146 BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 

the sacrament, and the purity of disposition with which it 
should be received, the desire of receiving its full benefit 
in death, and the dread of forfeiting the grace bestowed by 
falling from the baptismal engagements. These motives 
were not sufficient to justify delay, wherefore the Fathers 
uniformly inveighed against it as an abuse. " That bap- 
tism," says Jeremy Taylor, " was amongst the ancients 
sometimes deferred, was not always upon a good reason, 
but sometimes upon the same account as men now a-days 
defer repentance, or put off confession and absolution, and 
the communion till the last day of their life ; that their 
baptism might take away all the sins of their life."* 

The peculiar circumstances of some families easily ac- 
count for the delay which sometimes occurred in presenting 
children for baptism. 

It is indeed alleged, that St. Gregory of Nazianzum was 
baptized in adult age, although his father was a bishop : 
but learned critics maintain that at the time of his birth the 
father was not even a Christian.! St. Jerom, when adult, 
received at Rome the garment of Christ, not by baptism, 
but by ordination. Patricius, the father of St. Augustin, 
was a heathen, and the delay of the baptism of Augustin 
may have been, in the first instance, owing to his opposi- 
tion, and subsequently to the anxiety of his pious mother 
to preserve him by precious instruction from the danger of 
forfeiting baptismal grace. It does not appear that in any 
case the baptism of children was delayed under the persua- 
sion that an infant might not lawfully be baptized ; but 
solely in consequence of the peculiar circumstances of the 

* Discourse on the liberty of Prophesying, sec. xviii. 
f A clerical celibacy is admitted by Taylor, and other Protestant 
writers, to be far more ancient. See Ancient Christianity, p. 105. 



BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 147 

parents, or through fear of the violation of the baptismal 
engagements. 

But was not the Eucharist anciently given to infants, and 
the necessity of receiving it sustained by an appeal to Scrip- 
ture, and urged in terms equally strong as those which are 
applied to the baptism of infants ? Infants were made par- 
takers of the precious blood of Christ : children were 
feasted with His divine flesh : but not through a belief that 
this was equally necessary as baptism. It was considered 
their privilege and blessing, because they had been bap- 
tized ; nor could it ever have been thought of were not the 
custom of baptizing infants universal. Afterwards circum- 
stances being changed, it was deemed advisable to withhold 
from them the gift, which was acknowledged not to be es- 
sential to their salvation ; and in exercising her discretionary 
power, the Church has abandoned no principle, and no 
wise weakened the force of the proofs drawn from her un- 
interrupted practice in baptizing infants. The Scriptural 
and traditionary evidences of the necessity of baptism for 
children are of a far different kind . from the arguments 
which ingenuity might devise for vindicating the practice 
of affording them the Eucharist. 

In favor of infant baptism we have the most solemn de- 
clarations of councils and pontiffs in the fifth century, and 
the universal practice of Christians loudly proclaimed by 
Augustin, and fully admitted by Pelagius : we have the 
practice of the Christian world in the fourth century, attest- 
ed by Chrysostom, Gregory of Nazianzum, Ambrose, 
Basil, and a host of others : we have the solemn judgment 
of sixty African bishops in the third century, with the clear 
testimonies of Cyprian and Origen, to say nothing of Ter- 



148 BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 

tullian : we have the incidental reference to it of Ireneus 
and Justin in the second century. This is such evidence 
as should satisfy the inquirer after Christian truth. Con- 
sidering the paucity of the writings, which remain from 
that ancient period, and the subjects whereof they treat, it 
is not wonderful that we should have no more than inci- 
dental references to this practice. Like most Christian 
usages and principles, it was chiefly brought to view, when 
assailed by the temerity of some one, who sought to modify 
it, conformably to his own fancy. Tertullian, in the first 
instance, disputed its expediency in particular cases, and 
Fidus subsequently sought to reduce it to an affected con- 
formity in point of time with the ancient rite of circum- 
cision. 

The baptism of infants is known to be practised by 
Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, Abyssinians, Cophts, and 
other nations, comprising Nestorians, Eutychians, and 
various other sects : who all regard it as a practice coeval 
with the Christian church. It is likewise admitted by the 
vast majority of Protestants in Germany, England, Den- 
mark, and other countries ; so that if those, who oppose it 
constitute the church, the number of the followers of Christ 
would be exceedingly small. 

The early, constant, universal practice of baptizing in- 
fants, presupposes and manifests Apostolic precedent and 
teaching, and the texts which declare the baptism of indi- 
viduals Avith their whole household, correspond admirably 
with this presumption. The general terms of the Apos- 
tolic commission, which extends to all nations, and em- 
braces every creature of God, capable of grace and salva- 
tion, are most rationally understood to include infants ; 



BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 149 

especially when the divine decree is present to our minds, 
that without the new birth by water and the Spirit, 
entrance into the heavenly kingdom is not granted. — • 
On these grounds we may safely rest our cause, and 
follow on the footsteps of our ancestors, baptizing the 
tender infant, to make him a child of God and heir of life 
eternal. 



13* 



150 



CHAPTER X. 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 



Although opposition to the baptism of infants origi- 
nally distinguished those who are now called Baptists, 
nevertheless as it is common to the " Friends," and as the 
neglect of baptizing infants widely prevails among Protest- 
ant sects generally, the practice of immersion, and the 
tenet of its being the only true baptism, may now be con- 
sidered the popular characteristic of this sect. The prac- 
tice itself might be considered their distinctive mark, were 
it not occasionally, at least, adopted by others, since 
preachers of various sects are sometimes known to suit 
the taste of their proselytes, and sprinkle, or immerge 
them, as they may prefer. Immersion is also practised by 
those called " Campbellites," the followers of Alexander 
Campbell,* who nevertheless are disowned by regular 
Baptists. The Mormons, likewise, have adopted the same 
usage. The tenet that immersion alone is baptism is held 
by Baptists generally, who therefore regard infusion and 
aspersion as vain and nugatory. 

The Baptist Confession of Faith says : " Immersion or 
dipping of the person in water, is necessary to the due 

* An Irishman, originally a Presbyterian, who separated from the 
Synod of Ulster, and coming to this country, settled in Virginia. He 
subsequently got himself immersed, and has become the founder of a 
sect widely spread throughout the Western states. He engaged in 
controversy a few years ago with the Bishop of Cincinnati. 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 151 

administration of this ordinance.* It may be doubted 
whether this excludes the validity of other modes of bap- 
tizing ; but the prevailing sentiment is adverse to it; 
although from the two great divisions of the sect into close- 
communion Baptists and open-communion Baptists, the 
other opinion seems not without advocates. The close- 
communion Baptists admit none to the communion table 
who have not been immersed ; whilst the open-communion 
Baptists invite all, without regard to the manner in which 
they have been baptized, to come forward and partake of 
the Lord's Supper. These may be supposed to admit the 
validity of baptism administered in any way, since they 
cannot be thought to invite unbaptized persons to partake 
of the other sacrament. 

Hinton, a strenuous defender of immersion, remarks: 
" There are clearly circumstances, however, in which 
overwhelming is truly baptism ; when, for instance, bap- 
tizing in the sea, or lake, as the candidate is laid down by 
the administrator, a wave rolls over him ; by no means an 
unfrequent occurrence. "t This seems like an abandon- 

■ ment of the contest. The laying down of a man in a dry 
channel, or on the sea shore, is not literally an immersion, 
even though the opening of a sluice or the rushing of a 

| wave should be immediately expected to cover with water 
the prostrate individual : and if such be truly baptism, it 

I is vain to clamor about dipping. A man standing under a 

| shower bath may be said to be baptized with at least equal 
plausibility. According to Catholic principles, the man 
thus laid down by a preacher to be covered by the ap- 

' proaching wave, would not be baptized, although the 

* Ch. c. xxx. 4. | History of Baptism, p. 22. Note. 



152 MODES OF BAPTISM. 

water should completely envelop him, for the application 
of the water by the minister of the sacrament is required, 
that he may say with truth : "I baptize thee, etc." As it 
seems this mode is of frequent occurrence, it follows that 
many are not at all baptized, who imagine they have been 
immersed. 

With equal injury to the sacrament, the words accom- 
panying the immersion were changed by some of the early 
Anabaptists : " One sort of them," says Wall, " do count 
it indifferent whether they baptize with these words : * In 
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Spirit :" or with these : " In the Name of the Lord Jesus :' 
and do in their public confession* allow either of these 
forms. And I have heard that some of 'em do affectedly 
choose the latter."! In the Baptist confession, adopted in 
America, it is said : " the party is to be baptized in the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Spirit.":): In some places the preacher premises : " In 
obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ," to the ordinary form. 
As individuals consider themselves judges of what is most 
suitable to the original institution, and the whole stress is 
generally laid on the act of plunging, it is to be feared that 
little care is used to pronounce the form prescribed, simul- 
taneously with the immersion : and yet without that form 
there can be no baptism. 

The Presbyterian Confession, in reference to the mode 
of baptizing, says : " Dipping of the person into the water 
is not necessary, but baptism is rightly administered by 
pouring or sprinkling water upon the person. "§ 

* Confess, of Anabapt. reprinted London 1691. 

f History of Infant Baptism, p. 1 1 , ch. viii. 

t ch. xxx. § Art. iii. on Baptism. 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 153 

The English Book, of Common Prayer directs, that "if 
the sponsor certify that the child may well endure it, the 
minister shall dip it in the water discreetly and warily : 
otherwise it shall suffice to pour water upon it:" but since 
the days of Elizabeth, the practice of dipping has been dis- 
continued. The American edition of the Book of Com- 
mon Prayer leaves it entirely optional to dip the child, or 
pour the water on it : whence the latter practice has pre- 
vailed. The Protestant Episcopal Bishop in Kentucky 
has lately avowed his conviction, that immersion is the 
: only proper mode of baptism, and has immersed his infant 
child, having previously declared it advisable to send some 
Episcopalians to Greece, that they might obtain immersion 
from those who had practised it in regular succession from 
I the Apostles, and on their return restore the practice quietly 
and without noise throughout his communion. It is notne- 
1 cessary to show the extravagance of this suggestion, which 
i is, I believe, original, although several Anglican divines have 
I expressed a like opinion as to the irregularity of the modes 
J of baptism prevailing among them. Wall contends that 
j persons holding opposite views on this subject should still 
| remain externally united in religious communion.* 

The Episcopal Methodist discipline directs that the min- 
| ister shall sprinkle or pour water on the infant, or if de- 
sired, immerse it in water. It is right to remark that the 
i disbelief of the inherent virtue of the rite of baptism has 
I led to a most deplorable carelessness in its administration 
by Protestant preachers generally. Some merely fillip a 
wet finger and thumb over a child's head ; some shake a 
wet finger or two over the child ; some dip the hand in a 

* See History of Baptism, p. ii. ch. xi. 



154 MODES OF BAPTISM. 

bowl, and then lay it gently on the forehead ; some 
sprinkle lightly towards the person's face, the head being 
covered with a bonnet, so that a well-founded doubt arises 
in many cases whether an ablution of any kind can be said 
to have been performed. Hence it has become customary 
to baptize under condition, converts from Protestant 
sects. 

The practice of immersion of the head is continued in 
the Catholic Church at Milan ; and in various parts of the 
East some kind of immersion is practised. Elsewhere in- 
fusion most generally prevails, which is alone used in 
America. The Roman Ritual directs that either infusion 
or immersion be used, according to the local custom, but 
recognises aspersion likewise, as one of the modes of bap- 
tizing. 

To establish the principle that immersion alone is true 
baptism, the testimony of St. Paul is adduced : " Know ye 
not that all we who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are bap- 
tized in His death ? For we are buried with him by bap- 
tism unto death."* All then, it is said, presented in bap- 
tism the image of sepulture, by sinking under the water. 
Such is the inference usually drawn from this text by Bap- 
tist writers, which, were it confined to the general mode of 
baptizing, I should not care to combat. But it should be 
observed, that in connexion with the allusion to burial, St. 
Paul speaks of the crucifixion of our old man, and of our 
being planted together with Christ; which warrants the 
belief that he urges rather the duties implied by baptism, 
than the mode in which they had been baptized. As we, 
however, admit that immersion was generally practised^ 

* Rom. vi. iii. 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 155 

we can have no objection to any moral instruction con- 
nected with that mode : and although the image may not 
appear so manifestly in other modes of baptizing, yet as 
baptism is essentially the same, all may be said to have 
been buried with Christ by baptism unto death, because 
all, in whatsoever way they may have been baptized, by 
the act were deemed to die with Christ to sin, and to be 
buried with Him. "In immersion," St. Thomas, of 
Aquin, well remarks, " the image of the burial of Christ is 
more strikingly exhibited .... but in the other modes of 
baptism, it is also, in some respect, represented, though not 
so expressly, for in whatever way the ablution be made, 
the body of the individual, or some part of it, is under the 
water, as the body of Christ was under the earth."* 

It is dangerous to endeavour to establish a principle of 
doctrine on a mere allusion : but those who rely on such 
proofs should not forget that similar arguments can be ad- 
duced to sustain the other modes of baptism. Isaias, de- 
scribing the triumphs of Christ, says: "He shall sprinkle 
many nations."! David imploring pardon of his sin, makes 

* 3 p. qu. LXVII. art. VII. 

•j- Is. Hi. 15. The Hebrew term T^'V used in this passage is else- 
where employed to signify the act of sprinkling with the finger dipped 
in blood and oil, for the expiation of leprosy, Lev. xiv. 16, or in blood 
mixed with running water, ib. 51, or in water simply, Num. viii. 7. 
\ Professor Conant maintains that it means here to astonish, startle, or 
surprise, as when a man has water suddenly dashed in his face. See 
HintonHs History of Baptism, p. 159. The scriptural examples and 
the authority of lexicographers are not favourable to this meaning. It 
is more natural to conceive that allusion is made to the expiatory rites 
of the Mosaic dispensation, and that the sprinkling of the blood of 
Christ, by which the nations are cleansed from sin, is here pointed 



156 MODES OF BAPTISM. 

allusion to the legal purification by aspersions with a branch 
of hyssop, and in the Hebrew style of poetry, in the cor- 
responding member, identifies it with an entire washing : 
" Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be 
cleansed : thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter 
than snow."* It were not rash to suppose that prophetic- 
ally this regards the christian rite. " I will pour upon you 
clean water," says the Lord by Ezechiel; " and you shall 
be cleansed."! "Let us draw near," cries the Apostle, 
"with a true heart in fulness of faith, having our hearts 
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed 
with clean water."J " According to his mercy he hath 
saved us by the laver of regeneration and renovation of the 
Holy Ghost, whom he hath poured forth upon us abun- 
dantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour. "§ By the alter- 
nate use of these allusions, the indifference of the mode is 
sufficiently insinuated, whilst its essence is declared by 
styling it a laver. [| How unsafe it is to argue from figura- 
tive expressions, such as all these manifestly are, may be 
gathered from the words of the Apostle: "knowing this, 
that our old man is crucified with Him. "If Must we seek 
in baptism an image of the crucifixion ? "As many of you 

out, according to the words of St. Peter, " unto the sanctification of 
the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 
1 Ep. i. 2. I do not, however, rest on this testimony of the prophet, 
as a proof that the rite of sprinkling is here referred to, but merely use 
it to rebut the argument drawn from allusions. 

* The Hebrew text does not express the sprinkling, but it is in- 
cluded in the idea of hyssop. 

f Ezech. xxx vi. 25. Ylp^Tl " l sha11 sprinkle." 

* Heb. x. 22. § Titus iii. 5. 
|| Eph. v. 26. Tf Rom. vi. 6. 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 1 57 

as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ."* 
Must we again look for a mode of baptism like the putting 
on of clothes ? Where the essence of a christian sacrament 
is to be determined, we must decline admitting allusions as 
proof, since the evidence should be clear and unequivocal. 
On grounds so slight the received modes of baptism, sanc- 
tioned by the usage of ages, and by the authority of the 
church, cannot be called in question, That each of them 
was used according to circumstances by the Apostles and 
their fellow labourers cannot be reasonably doubted, since 
in many instances the use of immersion must have been 
absolutely impracticable : " Doubt not, beloved," says St. 
Chrysostom, " for the grace of God is perfect : the place 
is no obstacle, whether you baptize here, or in a ship, or 
on a road: Philip baptized on a road: Paul in prison."! 
What the Apostle had in view in the various passages 
which have reference to baptism, was not to derive an 
argument from the mode of baptizing, but to inculcate the 
duties that resulted from the reception of this sacrament, 
and to point out the conditions on which the attainment of 
its ultimate effects depended. Baptism is death to sin, 
burial and crucifixion with Christ, a putting on of Christ, 
a resurrection to a new life, because whosoever is bap- 
tized is bound to renounce sin, and embrace the law which 
Christ delivered. "For he that is dead is justified from 
sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we 
shall live also together with Christ. "J 

The Apostle St. Paul having styled baptism in more 

than one place "a laver," we are justified in regarding it 

) as essentially requiring an ablution : but the mode of the 

laver is not thereby determined. A bath corresponds most 

* Gal. iii. 27. f Horn, de regresm. t Rom. vi. 7. 

14 



, 



158 MODES OF BAPTISM. 

fully with the term ; yet we find Christ addressing Peter: 
"If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me;"* 
when He meant only to wash his feet. He used the same 
term in directing the blind man to go wash in the pool of 
Siloe, although from the term employed when the order 
was fulfilled, it would seem that the man washed only his 
hands and eyes.t The washing of the head, usually prac- 
tised by Catholics, may with still greater propriety be 
called a washing of the person, since it is the noblest part 
of the human body, and in it the soul seems enthroned. 

To understand the essence of a rite divinely instituted, 
the object had in view should be specially considered. 
Had baptism been instituted for corporal purification, a 
copious ablution should be made. Had Christ declared 
that it was intended to represent in a striking manner his de- 
scent into the grave, and his resurrection, the descent of the 
body beneath the water, and its subsequent elevation above 
the water, should be held necessary : but as an ancient 
Greek canon, styled Apostolic, observes: " Jesus did not 
say: 'baptize in my death:' but: ' Go, teach all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost." J The end had in view was to 
wash, to renovate the soul ; and the external exhibition of 
this divine work is presented, strikingly indeed in the 
entire washing of the body by immersion, but also, in a 
manner highly expressive, by the infusion of water, em- 
blematic of the Holy Ghost, who is poured out on us 
abundantly ; or by copious aspersion, which reminds us of 
" the sprinkling of the blood of Christ."§ 

St. Thomas, of Aquin, has well remarked: "water is 

* John xiii. 9. f Ibidem ix. 7. 

* Can. Apost. 1. § 1 Peter i. 2. 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 1 59 

used in the sacrament of baptism for the purpose of corpo- 
ral ablution, by which the interior ablution from sins is 
signified : and ablution with water can be made, not only 
by immersion, but by aspersion, or infusion."* 

The practice of the church in the earliest ages is deserv- 
edly looked up to as an evidence of the genuine nature of 
the institutions of Christ. To it an appeal is made with 
the utmost confidence by the advocates of immersion. They 
recite the testimonies of Justin, Tertuliian, and others, 
wherein the catechumens are represented as descending 
into the water, and coming forth from the laver, and they 
insist that no other mode of baptizing was known or prac- 
tised, or at least indubitably held as legitimate. In this, 
however, they are not sustained by the authorities to which 
they appeal. It is undoubted that immersion was used in 
solemn baptism, although the mode of immersion was dif- 
ferent from that now practised. The applicant descended 
into the font, and when the priest at its verge pressed his 
hands on his shoulders, he sunk beneath the waters ; or 
the priest plunged his head, or poured the water on him. 
Thus Severus, patriarch of Alexandria, describes baptism : 
" The priest lets the person to be baptized down into the 
baptistery, looking to the East, and puts his right hand on 
his head, and with his left hand raises up the water thrice, 
from the water in front, behind, and at either of his sides, 
and says these words : ' N. is baptized in the name of the 
, Father, Amen, and of the Son, Amen, and of the Holy 
j Ghost, Amen, for life eternal. '"t But in the less solemn 
; administration of the sacrament other modes were used. 
Tertuliian intimates that aspersion was sometimes used, 

§. 3, art. vii. qu. Ixvi. 
j- In rituum baptismi rubrica ; cit. a Bevendge in can. L. Apost. 



160 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 



since speaking of penance, he says : " The sinner, before 
obtaining- pardon, should mourn over his state, for the time 
of penance is a time of danger and fear. I do not deny 
that the divine favor, that is, the abolition of sins, is alto- 
gether secure for those who enter into the water ; but dili- 
gence must be used to prepare for it. For who will 
vouchsafe to you, so faithless a penitent, a single sprinkle 
of any water?"* He nevertheless is cited to prove that 
the Apostles, like John, baptized in rivers, by immersion ; 
yet his testimony only proves that all water is fit matter 
for baptism, being made the instrument of sanctifica- 
tion by the Holy Spirit. He, indeed, supposes some to 
have been baptized by Peter in the Tiber ; but he does not 
insinuate that a river is the only suitable place for this 
function: " The virtue," he says, " imparted to the genus 
redounds to each species : and therefore it matters not 
whether one be washed in the sea, or in a pool, in a river, 
or fountain, in a lake, or channel: nor is there any differ- 
ence between those whom John baptized [tinged) in the 
Jordan, and whom Peter baptized in the Tiber; unless, 
perchance, that eunuch whom Philip baptized on the road 
with water presented fortuitously, received mere or less of 
saving grace. Therefore all waters, when God is invoked, 
receive the mysterious virtue of sanctification, in conse- 
quence of the ancient privilege imparted at the commence- 
ment. For the Holy Ghost immediately comes from 
heaven, and is over the waters sanctifying them of himself, 
and being thus sanctified, they imbibe the power of sancti- 
fying, "t He also mentions the manner in which some 



* De Poenitentia, c. 6. p. 144. edit. Lutetiae. 
t De Bapt.Yi. 4. 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 161 

attempted to account for the baptism of the Apostles : 
" Some, in a manner quite forced, pretend that the Apostles 
underwent a kind of baptism, when in the boat they were 
sprinkled and covered with the waves ; and that Peter 
himself, walking on the sea, was sufficiently immerged."* 
This idea, however far fetched, could scarcely have occur- 
red, if sprinkling or partial immersion were altogether 
foreign to the practice of the church. 

Sprinkling must have been used on some occasions to 
afford ground for the remarks of Tertullian ; probably 
even in cases where the catechumen actually entered the 
water, as the mode of baptizing was not always to plunge 
the head, but sometimes to pour the water, or sprinkle it on 
the individual already standing or kneeling immersed in it.t 
It is certain that aspersion and infusion were generally used 
in regard to persons applying for baptism when at the point 
of death, or in dangerous sickness. In the middle of the 
third century, Magnus, probably a layman, consulted St. 
Cyprian, the illustrious Bishop of Carthage, concerning 
persons so baptized, to know whether they should be re- 
garded as legitimate Christians, entitled to the same privi- 
leges as their brethren, who in health had been baptized 
by the more solemn method of immersion. He did not 
speak of the practice as recently introduced : he did not 
inquire whether the baptism should be considered as of no 
account: but fully convinced, according to the general per- 
suasion of the whole Christian church, that they obtained 
the grace of God, he asked only, whether considering the 

* De Bapt. n. 12. 

f Very ancient pictures of baptism represent the priest with a ves- 
sel in his hand at the side of the font, whilst the catechumen is on his 
knees in the water. See Robinson's History of Baptism* 

14* 



162 MODES OF BAPTISM. 

circumstances in which they sought it, after long and cul- 
pable delay, and the manner in which they obtained it, by 
an abridged rite, they should share equal privileges with 
their more diligent brethren: "Thou hast inquired, most 
beloved child," says Cyprian, in reply, " what I think of 
those who in their infirmity and languor obtain the grace 
of God, whether they are to be esteemed as legitimate 
Christians, because they have not been washed with water, 
but received it by infusion." The holy prelate unhesita- 
tingly answered, that the effect of the sacrament was the 
same, in whatever way it was conferred: "The divine 
favors can in no degree be mutilated and weakened, for 
the defilements of sin are not cleansed in the salutary sacra- 
ment in the same manner as the defilements of the ski^ 
and body are washed away in the carnal and worldly bath 
In the sacraments of salvation, necessity urging, and God 
granting his indulgence, the divine compendium confers 
all on believers. Nor should any one be moved, because 
he sees that the sick are sprinkled, or receive infusion, 
when they obtain the grace of the Lord, since the holy 
Scripture, by the prophet Ezekiel, speaks and says : ' I 
will sprinkle on you clean water, and you shall be cleansed 
from all your uncleanness, and I will cleanse you from all 
your idols, and I will give you a new heart, and I will put 
a new spirit in you.'"* He proceeds to quote various pas- 
sages of Moses, wherein legal purification is attached to 
the sprinkling of the water prepared for that purpose ; and 
regarding this as the type of baptism, he infers: " whence 
it appears that the sprinkling of water has the same force 
as the saving laver." He reproves those who sarcastically 
styled clinics such as had been baptized on their beds in 
* Ep. lxxvi. 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 163 

sickness : and he challenges them to rebaptize them on 
their recovery, if they call in question their perfect sancti- 
fication. As no one attempted to rebaptize them, he shows 
the absurdity of questioning the degree of grace which 
they had received. " If any one supposes that they have 
obtained no advantage, but are empty and void, inasmuch 
as they were merely perfused with the saving water, let 
them not be deceived, but if they escape the danger and re- 
cover, let them be baptized :* but if they cannot be bap- 
tized, who are already sanctified by baptism adminis- 
tered in the church, why are they molested to the scandal 

i of their faith, and in derogation of the divine indulgence ? 
Have they, indeed, obtained the grace of the Lord, but 
with a more sparing communication of the divine gift and 
of the Holy Spirit, so that they are to be reckoned Chris- 
tians, and yet not placed on an equality with others ? Yea, 

I rather the Holy Ghost is not given by measure, but is 
wholly infused on the believer. For since the day dawns 
for all alike, and the sun sheds his light with equal bril- 
liancy over all, how much more does Christ, the true sun 
and day, shed the light of eternal life over all in his church? 
We see a type of this equal distribution of grace in Exo- 

! dus, when the manna fell from heaven, and prefiguring 

I future events, pointed out the nourishment of heavenly 

* Bingham, with others, has mistaken the meaning of this passage, 
which he gives in these terms , " Yet, if any bishops were otherwise 
persuaded that it was not lawful baptism, and upon that ground gave 
such persons a new immersion, he professes that he prescribes to none, 
but leaves every one to act according to his own judgment and discre- 
\ tion." 1. ii. c. vi. Antiquities of the C. Church. The argument of 
St. Cyprian is grounded on the known fact, that no one attempted to 
rebaptize them. 



164 MODES OF BAPTISM. 

bread, and the food which Christ, when He should come, 
would give. For there the measure of a gomor was alike 
gathered by all, without distinction of sex or age. Whence 
it appeared that the indulgence and heavenly grace of Christ, 
which was afterwards to ensue, is equally divided to all 
without difference of sex, without distinction of years, 
without acceptation of persons, and the gift of divine grace 
is poured out on the entire people of God. Truly the same 
spiritual gift, which is equally received in baptism by be- 
lievers, is afterwards either lessened or increased in our 
conduct, and acts, as in the gospel the divine seed is equally 
sown, but according to the difference of the soil some is 
wasted, some produces fruit thirty fold, sixty fold, a hun- 
dred fold." 

Although St, Cyprian gives his sentiments with the 
modesty which usually marks great and holy men, it is 
clear from his statement, that the validity of baptism con- 
ferred by infusion, or aspersion, was an undisputed point, 
and that the equality of the grace imparted by these modes 
with that attached to immersion, was deducible from the 
certain and avowed principles of the Church. In his day 
a circumstance occurred, which appeared most likely to 
induce the denial of the validity of aspersion, or infusion. 
Novatian had received baptism in sickness by infusion, as 
he lay on his bed.* Having subsequently recovered, he 
neglected to seek the gift of the Holy Ghost by the impo- 
sition of the bishop's hands in confirmation. Yet he con- 
trived to advance to sacred orders ; and his ambition finally 
led him to usurp the chair of Peter. Cornelius, the legiti- 



* Ev avtyj fyj x\Lvr\ rj sxwto rtepvzvOsii Cornelius, ad Fabium An- 
tioch., apud Eusebium, hist. Eccl. 1. vi. c. xliii. 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 165 

mate Pope, opposed his pretensions, upbraided him with 
his having delayed to receive baptism until terrified by the 
approach of death, and with his neglect to receive confirma- 
tion on his recovery : but he did not deny the validity of 
the baptism, as he most certainly would have done, were 
there any grounds for calling it in question, since this 
would utterly destroy all the pretensions of the schismati- 
cal usurper.* It is fair to conclude thence, that its validity 
was indisputable. 

The canons of the ancient councils prohibit the promo- 
tion to sacred orders of persons baptized in sickness, be- 
cause their neglect to receive baptism previously, supposes 
criminal delay : but they make an exception in favor of 
such as may be especially fervent ;t and thereby clearly 
recognize the validity of the baptism. The ancient coun- 
cil of Laodicea manifestly admits it, since it teaches, that 

1 " it behoves such as receive baptism in sickness, and after- 
wards recover, to learn fully the faith, and know that they 
have been made worthy of the divine gift."f And the 
council of Elvire declared it lawful for the laity to baptize 
catechumens in danger of death, if no Priest be at hand.§ 
The Council of Aries, not long after, directed persons bap- 
tized in sickness to be presented, on their recovery, to the 

| bishop, to receive the solemn imposition of hands. Thus 

* Vide Eusebius Eccl. hist. 1. vi. c. 35. Some have cavilled on 
| the expression of the Pontiff: "if Novatian could be said to have re- 
ceived it," but it evidently means, that he had not willingly sought it, 
until terrified by the approach of death. 

j- Council of Neocaesarea, Can. xii. 

t Can. xlvii. apud. Labbe torn. 1. col. 1505. 

§ Cone. Elib. can. xxxvii. xxxviii. xxxix. apud Labbe torn, 1 . cone, 
col. 974. 



166 MODES OF BAPTISM. 

the validity of baptism administered in this way, was re- 
cognized by numerous assemblies of Christian bishops in 
the East and in the West, in the commencement of the 
fourth century. 

Besides the express testimony of St. Cyprian in the 
third century, we have on record particular instances of 
baptism conferred in circumstances which clearly show 
that immersion was not used. Eusebius, speaking of Ba- 
silides, who was cast into prison for the name of Christ, 
says : " the brethren gave him the seal of baptism, and 
the next day, having confessed our Lord, he was be- 
headed."* This took place in the year 211. In the mar- 
tyrology of Ado, it is related of Pope Callistus, who died 
in 222, that after enjoining fasting, and catechizing a can- 
didate, water having been brought, he baptized him.t In 
the acts of St. Lawrence, who suffered martyrdom in the 
year 250, it is related that Romanus, one of the soldiers, 
being suddenly converted, brought a pitcher of water to 
the martyr, asking him to baptize him.J This baptism is 
represented in an ancient picture preserved at Rome, 
wherein St. Lawrence appears pouring water on the head 
of Romanus. The acts of St. Cornelius speak of Sallustia, 
who, being converted, presented to the Pontiff a vessel 
with water, wherewith he might baptize her. Five mar- 
tyrs of Samosata, in the year 297, when in prison for the 
faith of Christ, sent for the priest James, entreating him to 
come, and bring with him a vessel of water to baptize 

* Eccl. hist. 1. vi. c. 5. 

•J* Allata aqua baptizavit. Ad. iii. idus Maji. 

$ See acts cited by Walafrid Strabo. 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 167 

them.* If any one is skeptical as to the authenticity of 
these acts, which, however, have passed unscathed through 
the ordeal of criticism, he must at least acknowledge that 
the persuasion of the validity of the baptism thus adminis- 
tered was prevalent at the time the acts were composed : 
otherwise the writer would not have made the statement. 
The testimony of Eusebius admits of no dispute ; and we 
cannot doubt that many similar instances of baptism in 
prison occurred, which it is utterly improbable were per- 
formed by immersion. 

The baptism of the sick, which was confessedly by 
infusion or aspersion, is constantly spoken of by the 
Fathers of the Church generally, no less than by St. 
Cyprian, and the councils already quoted, as conferring the 
same grace as solemn baptism by immersion. 

St. Chrysostom, addressing those who were preparing 
for baptism, praises their zeal in seeking it in health, and 
contrasts it with the torpor of those who delay until their 
last moments : " Although," he remarks, " the same gifts 
of grace are bestowed on you, and on those who are initiat- 
ed at the close of life, your free choice and preparation are 
different : for they receive it on their bed, you in the bo- 
som of the Church, the common mother of us all ; they 
sorrowing and weeping, you rejoicing and exulting; they 
sighing, you giving thanks ; they in a lethargy from fever, 
you full of much spiritual delight."t 

Whilst inveighing against the delay of baptism, the Fa- 

* See their authentic acts published in Chaldaic, by Stephen Asse- 
mani, Act. Mart. torn. II. p. 123. See also Martene de antiquis 
ritibus. 

\ Ad Illuminandos, Catech. 1. See also hom. II. in Ep. II. ad. 

orinth. 



c 



168 MODES OF BAPTISM. 

thers dwelt on the danger to which this delay exposed the 
catechumen not to receive it even in the extremity of life ; 
but never threw a doubt on the efficacy of the rite thus per- 
formed, when immersion was impracticable. St. Gregory, 
of Nazianzum, delivered a discourse on baptism, in which 
he reviewed and refuted all the pretexts by which sinners 
excuse themselves for delaying to receive it. He cautions 
them lest they be suddenly cut off, or be without the neces- 
sary sense of the baptism itself, when it may be adminis- 
tered in their last illness ; but he nowhere insinuates that it 
will be impossible to administer it because immersion will 
then be impracticable.* This, which would be so conclu- 
sive an argument against delay, he would surely not have 
passed over, if the matter even lay open to doubt. St. 
Basil uses similar arguments against delay, and warns 
sinners that they may be in their last moments unable to 
express a wish ; and perhaps at night there may be no one 
at hand to baptize them : " Take care," he cries, " lest 
putting off from year to year, and not providing yourself 
with oil to feed the flame, that day arrive which you do 
not expect, when the means of prolonging life shall fail, 
and on all sides doubt and inconsolable distress shall tor- 
ment you ; the physicians, and even your own family de- 
spairing of your recovery. Frequent and dry breathing 
will oppress you ; a violent fever will burn and consume 
you ; from your very heart you will heave forth deep sighs, 
and you will find none to comfort you. If you utter some- 
thing in a faint and faltering manner, it may not be under- 
stood : every thing you say will be disregarded as the 
raving of a dying man. Who will give you baptism then ? 
Who will remind you of it, when you will be sunk in deep 
* Or at. xl. n. ii. in Bapt. 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 169 

lethargy ? Relatives are in affliction : strangers take no 
interest: friends are loath to alarm you by the warning. 
Perhaps even the physician deceives you : and you do not 
know your situation, being blinded by the love of life. It 
is night, and there is no one to succour : there is no one at 
hand to baptize you."* 

Should the sinner who delayed to receive baptism be 
fortunate enough to receive it in death with proper disposi- 
tions, St. Basil expressly admits that he obtains its imme- 
diate advantages, although he depart void of the merits, 
, which he might have secured, had he been baptized at an 
i earlier period of life, and employed with zeal the baptismal 
grace : u Why do you await to be seized with a fever, to 
i receive baptism? Then, perhaps, you may be unable to 
I utter the saving words, scarcely may you hear them dis- 
tinctly, the disease affecting your head especially: it may 
not be in your power to raise your hands to heaven, to 
I stand on your feet, or to bend the knee in adoration ; you 
may not be able to receive instruction profitably, nor to 
confess diligently, nor to enter into covenant with God, 
nor to renounce the enemy of salvation, nor perhaps to 
follow up with consciousness the mystic rite, whilst it is 
performed, so that the bystanders may doubt whether you 
are conscious of the grace, or are insensible to all that is 
done. And although you may understand the gift you 
receive, you have indeed the talent, but you do not bring 
with it the increase."! 

The Fathers generally extol the effects of baptism inde- 
pendently of the mode of its administration, and the quan- 
tity of water. St. Augustin expressly admires the divine 
virtue of the word accompanying the water, whereby the 

* Horn. xiii. in S. Bapt. n. 7. -j- Ibidem, n. 5. 

15 



170 MODES OF BAPTISM. 

little infant is wholly cleansed from the original stain, 
however slight may be the ablution of the body : " This is 
the word of faith which we preach, whereby baptism also 
is doubtless consecrated that it may cleanse. ' For Christ 
loved his church, and delivered himself up for her.' Read 
the Apostle, and see what he adds : ' that he might sanctify 
her,' says he, ' cleansing her with the laver of water in the 
word.' This purification would by no means be attributed 
to the liquid and transient element, were it not added, * in 
the word.' This word of faith is so powerful in the church 
of God, that by means of her believing, offering, blessing, 
tinging even in a slight degree, it cleanses the infant."* 
St. Ambrose applies to baptism the words of the Psalmist, 
wherein he speaks of purification by aspersion : " You 
took afterwards the white garments," says he, addressing 
the neophytes, " to indicate that you cast away the cloak 
of sin and put on the spotless robes of innocence : whereof 
the prophet said : ' Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, 
and I shall be cleansed : thou shalt wash me, and I shall 
be made whiter than snow.' For he that is baptized, 
seems to be cleansed both according to the Law and the 
Gospel : according to the Law, since Moses with a bunch 
of hyssop sprinkled the blood of the lamb : according to 
the Gospel, because the garments of Christ were white as 
snow, when in the Gospel he showed the glory of his 
resurrection. He whose sins are forgiven, is made whiter 
than snow."t Gennadius, a writer of the fifth century, 
remarks that: " the catechumen after his profession of faith 
is either sprinkled with water, or dipt in it: and the martyr 
is either sprinkled with his own blood, or dipt in fire. "J 

* Tract, lxxx. in Joan. f L. de initiandis, c. vii. 

* De EccL dogm. c. xli. 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 171 

These testimonies and facts prove, that baptism by as- 
persion and infusion was practised in the primitive times, 
and recognised as valid by the Fathers and councils of the 
church. The solemnity of immersion was dispensed with, 
when danger impended ; whilst it was observed, in general, 
to signify to the catechumen the entire change which be- 
came him, and the entire purification which the sacrament 
effects. The death with Christ to sin, and the resurrection 
to a new life, and the washing away of sins, were strongly 
impressed on his mind, by the rite of immersion : and he 
rose from the font a new man, having put on Christ, and 
adopted his maxims as the rules of his belief and conduct. 
The same grace, nevertheless, was received, even when 
the rite was less solemn and impressive, and the same 
obligations were contracted : because neither the quantity 
of the water determined the measure of grace, nor the mode 
of its application limited its efficacy. It was still an ablu- 
tion made in the name of the three Adorable Persons ; and 
it regenerated, by the power of the Holy Ghost, those 
whom it touched even slightly. 

The absolute necessity of baptism, which is apparent 
from the words of our Divine Redeemer, and the perpetual 
belief of all Christian antiquity, warrants the presumption 
that a mode generally so difficult, and in numberless in- 
stances absolutely impracticable, has not been established 
as essential.* The prisoner in his dungeon, the sick man 



* Hinton observes : " Wherever the doctrine of the absolute neces- 
sity of baptism to salvation, even in the case of babes, was admitted, 
lit became contrary to nature to maintain that immersion, alone, was 
baptism ; for in that case many dear little infants, and others, must be 
lost." Hisioi*y of Baptism, p. 191. This doctrine he admits to have 
generally prevailed from the time of Cyprian. 



172 MODES OF BAPTISM. 

on his death-bed, the tender infant about to give up life, 
just after it has commenced to live, and innumerable others, 
in an endless variety of cases, cannot be immersed. We 
must then admit that Christ established as a necessary 
means of salvation, what can be rarely and with difficulty 
applied : or we must, against the obvious force of his em- 
phatic language, and the solemn testimony of the ancient 
church, deny that baptism is necessary for salvation. This 
alternative has been embraced by those who advocate im- 
mersion. Without remorse they suffer not only infants, 
but even adults to die, and refuse them this laver of regen- 
eration ; and even boast of the refusal as a proof that they 
do not attach over-much importance to forms, whilst they 
clamor incessantly about plunging : "A case," says Hin- 
ton, "occurring under my own ministration is in point. 
I visited a young lady who lay at the point of death ; she 
gave evidence of piety, and expressed some desire to be 
baptized. I assured her that it could make no possible 
difference to her acceptance with God, whether, in her 
circumstances, she was baptized or not."* Let this lan- 
guage be compared with that of Cyprian, Basil, Chrysos- 
tom, Augustin, and the other lights of antiquity. The de- 
cree of Pope Siricius, at the close of the fourth century, 
harmonizes with the teaching of these ancient doctors : 
" Whosoever is in danger of shipwreck, or of hostile 
attack, or of siege, or whose life is despaired of on account 
of any corporal disease, and demands to be succoured by 
the sole aid of faith, let him obtain the favor of regenera- 

* History of Baptism, ch. vi. «§. ii. p. 166. Dr. Pusey gives a 
similar instance, not quite so barefaced. Tract on Baptism, p. 128, 
Note. 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 173 

tion which he desires, the very moment at which he de- 
sires it.* 

If immersion of actual believers be the only valid mode 
of baptism, as Baptists affirm, none are really baptized who 
have not been immersed: and whatever Catholics may 
say, who believe that baptism administered by an unbap- 
tized man is valid, I know not whether Baptists are ready 
to maintain that baptism was utterly lost by the immense 
majority of the professors of Christianity, until unbaptized 
men, discovering the fatal error, restored it by giving, one 
to the other, that rite of which both were destitute. Yet 
this must plainly have been the case.t At the time when 
Storck, Muncer, and others, called Anabaptists, cried out 
in Germany against the baptism of children, all the Chris- 
tian world for ages had been baptized in infancy : and if 

* Ep. ad Himerium, c. ii. 

t This difficulty occurred likewise in the formation of the Baptist 
t Society in the American colonies, A. D. 1636. "Twelve persons," 
says Alexander Campbell, " among whom was the famous Roger Wil- 
liams, the first settler and founder of Rhode Island, desirous of form- 
ing a church, and first of being immersed in the primitive style — did 
meet together to deliberate on these topics. How to obtain a suitable 
administrator was a point of some difficulty. ' At length/ as Bene- 
dict said, < when they understood the Scriptures, the candidates for 
communion nominated and appointed Mr. Ezekiel Holliman, a man 
of gifts and piety, to baptize Mr. Williams; and who, in return, bap- 
tized Mr. Holliman and the other ten." See Christian Baptist, Oct. 
4, 1824. This fact is also testified by Cooke and Towne, who add: 
" But Mr. Williams soon made the discovery that he had unchurched 
himself, and frankly confessed to his church that he had misled them, 
and was not competent to administer baptism." Hints to an Inquirer, 
p. 61. The Baptists do not controvert this fact, but insist that large 
numbers of Baptists came from England, so that few trace their origin 
to Roger Williams. Review of Hints , p. 36. 

15* 



174 MODES OF BAPTISM. 

infant baptism was null, baptism had utterly perished. 
The Anabaptists, for a century after their rise, regarded 
the sprinkling of the head as sufficient. However, then, 
their authors may have contrived to supply the defect of 
their own baptism, they certainly neither received nor 
transmitted immersion. Is any one prepared to say, as 
he must necessarily do, if he deny the validity of infant 
baptism, as well as of the modes of infusion and aspersion, 
that the visible Church of Christ had utterly vanished from 
the earth for a long series of ages, until some unbaptized 
men restored it in the seventeenth century ? Roger Wil- 
liams " was driven by his views of consistency to his im- 
mersing principles, to declare that Christian ordinances had 
been lost, and there was no church in the world, and could 
not be until other apostles should come with miraculous 
powers."* 

The custom of the Greeks who baptize by immersion, 
does not establish the necessity of this mode, even were it 
shown that they believe it to be essential: which cannot 
be shown, since they made no difficulty about it when re- 
union with the Latins was in question, however individuals 
may taunt the Catholics on this and other points. Their 
mode of immersion is, however, such as partakes of infu- 
sion, and may be designated in either way. The infant is 
placed in the baptismal vase with its face downward, sup- 
ported by the left arm of the Priest, who, with his right 
hand, pours the water on it.t 

The cause of the variety of mode in the solemn admin- 
istration of baptism is not to be sought for in any positive 

* Hints to an Inquirer, p. 61. 

f See Eucho/ogium, with Gout's Notes. 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 175 

enactment of such a change by the Roman Pontiffs, or any 
other Church authority. To this day there exists no ec- 
clesiastical law forbidding the use of immersion ; but on 
the contrary, the Roman Ritual directs, as I have already 
stated, that immersion, or infusion, be used according 
to the established usages of the particular portions of the 
Church wherein the sacrament is administered. In Milan 
the Catholic Priest observes the Ambrosian rite, by the 
slight dipping of the head : in Greece, not only the fol- 
lowers of Photius, but the faithful ministers of religion 
united in communion with the successor of Peter, conform 
scrupulously to the rite prescribed in the Euchology : in 
this country, as most generally throughout the world, the 
mode of infusion is observed, in conformity with usage 
long established. To depart from the peculiar rite sanc- 
tioned by the authority of the Church, would be a viola- 
tion of order ; and consequently the individual Priest or 
layman, that in this country would practice immersion, 
would indeed validly baptize, but incur the guilt of insubor- 
dination and temerity, by favoring the error of those who 
allege that infusion is insufficient. 

When religion had consummated her triumphs over Pa- 
ganism in the various countries of Europe, and the regen- 
erated parents were diligently instructed in the duty of 
presenting their children to be baptized at the earliest 
period possible, ages passed away without scarcely an in- 
stance of the baptism of adults. Hence the necessity of 
receding from the mode of immersion became still more 
frequent, since the tender infant oftentimes could not be 
immersed without peril to its life. The cases thus multi- 
plying, the more solemn method fell into gradual disuse, 
until it has, in most places, been entirely superseded. 



, 



176 MODES OF BAPTISM. 

Another cause contributed to render universal the mode 
of infusion. A class of females formerly existed in the 
church, under the name of Deaconesses, who, amongst 
other exercises of piety, instructed and prepared for bap- 
tism, the catechumens of their sex, and performed some of 
the ceremonies preparatory to its administration. They 
particularly accompanied the proselyte to the font, that 
when she had entered into the water, they might give the 
sacred minister notice to approach to its verge, and 
perform the ablution. This, and several other precau- 
tions were employed by the piety of our ancestors to guard 
the holy institution from the slightest indecorum. This 
class of females, from a variety of causes having ceased, it 
became expedient to abstain from the immersion of fe- 
males. 

In the present mode of immersing, this difficulty may 
seem obviated : but such is not the case. The manners of 
our age are different from those in which immersion was 
practised ; and although we may not surpass our ancestors 
in purity of morals, there is a delicacy of feeling peculiar 
to us which revolts at the public exhibitions which are 
now made in the presence of congregated multitudes.* It 

* It is certain that the applicant entered the font in a state of entire 
nudity, (S. Cyr. Hier. cat. ii. v. 2.) to represent the entire purification 
of the soul, and the abandonment of all earthly attachments, which 
might interfere with the service of Christ. The necessary precau- 
tions were, however, taken to preserve decorum, and the assistance of 
deaconesses was used in the baptism of females, whereby the presence 
of the Priest was not called for until the female to be baptized was al- 
ready in the water. At the rise of the Anabaptists these precautions 
were neglected, if we may believe cotemporary writers : " They strip 
themselves starke-naked, not only when they flocke in great muiti- 



MODES OF BAPTISM. 177 

was worthy of the divine wisdom of Jesus Christ, to leave 
with his Apostles and their successors, a discretionary 
power, to be exercised according to the difference of times 
and places, as to what regards the mode of administering 
this necessary sacrament. 

tudes, men and women, together, to their Jordans to be dipt ; but also 
upon other occasions, when the season permits : and when they are 
questioned for it, they shelter this their shamelesse act, with the pro- 
verb, Veritas nuda est, the truth is naked, and desires no vaile, 
masque, or guise." Remarkable histories of the Anabaptists, by 
Daniel Feat ly, D. D., p. 124. At present they use a bathing gown : 
1 nevertheless the ascent of females from the water in the sight of a 
; multitude of spectators, is shocking to our sense of decorum. 



178 



CHAPTER XL 

MEANING OF THE TERM : BAPTIZE. 

The chief argument of Baptists is that the term " bap- 
tize" in its obvious meaning, implies immersion, and that 
it can be understood in no other sense in the solemn com- 
mission of Christ to his Apostles. This presents a subject 
of inquiry very ill suited to the mass of mankind, and on 
which learned men themselves may not easily pronounce 
with certainty, since words have generally secondary as 
well as primary significations, which vary by the usages 
of nations, and with the revolution of time. As George 
Campbell well remarks : "In process of time, words in 
every tongue vary from their original import, in conse- 
quence of the gradual influence of incidental causes, and 
the changes in manners and sentiments which they occa- 
sion. "* 

In entering on the critical examination of the term bap- 
tize, a sophism must be guarded against, which frequently 
occurs in Baptist writers. They say that the Greek and 
Hebrew languages had distinct terms for sprinkling, pour- 
ing, dipping, and that the term which naturally means dip- 
ping having been employed, the others are necessarily 
excluded. This, however, is not a fair consequence; for 
whatever term might be employed, it would remain to be 
seen, whether that term should be taken in its strictest 

* Dissert, iv. p. 119. 



MEANING OF THE TERM : BAPTIZE. 179 

sense, and whether so taken it excluded the others. We 
do not contend that Christ specially instituted aspersion as 
the essential mode of baptism : for in such case we should 
show that to baptize means to sprinkle, and cannot receive 
any other signification. The same may be said as to infu- 
sion. We simply say, that He instituted an ablution with 
water, which may be made by immersion, conformably to 
the primary signification of the term employed by the 
Evangelists to designate it; but which may also be made in 
a less solemn manner, since the popular use of the term 
admits much latitude, and there is no solid reason for be- 
lieving that our Divine Redeemer determined the precise 
mode of the ablution. 

The learned author of the Greek Lexicon, Henricus 
Stephanus, gives as the primary meaning of the term bap- 
tize, to dip, or immerge, as we dip things for the pur- 
pose of dying them, or immerge them in water to wash 
them.* He gives an example from Plutarch's work on 
Superstition, where speaking of the vain phantoms where- 
with the imagination of the superstitious is troubled, he 
represents impostors as counselling a man to baptize him- 
self, that is, to plunge himself into the sea,\ and then 
to sit during an entire day on the land ; as if this could 
serve to avert impending calamities. Lncian also uses the 
term to express the violent plunging of another, in order to 
drown him. In his dialogue concerning Timon, he repre- 
sents him, after having found the treasure, resolving to live 
entirely for himself, and to repel all others, who might de- 
sire his assistance. If an unfortunate man carried away by 

* Barf-rifco " Mergo, seu immergo (ut quae tmgendi aut ablucndi 
gratia aquas iminergimus." 

t fidrttioov ^tavtov ti$ ^a?.a? ■flow. Plutarch, Be Superstitione. 



180 MEANING OF THE TERM: BAPTIZE. 

a flood, stretched forth his hands for relief, this misanthrope 
resolves rather to push him off, and plunge him head down- 
wards* into the water, lest he should by any possibility 
escape. In the second book of True Histories, Lucian 
relates that voyagers discovered men with feet of cork, and 
saw them running on the waters, and were surprised that 
they were not baptized,! that is, did not sink, but kept 
above the waters. In this sense it is frequently used by 
classical, Jewish, and ecclesiastical authors. Josephus 
speaks of the ship in which the prophet Jonas was, as on 
the point of being baptized, that is of sinking, or being 
overwhelmed by the waves,± when the mariners resolved 
to throw him overboard. St. Gregory, of INazianzum, 
says, that Christ sustains and lightens those who are about 
to sink, which he calls to be baptized. § In most of such 
examples either meaning will suit, since a ship may sink 
between two waves, which open to swallow her up, or may 
be overwhelmed by a rushing billow. In many passages it 
is manifestly taken by the classic authors for the being sunk 
in water, the water coming over and covering, either par- 
tially, or entirely, the object thus said to be baptized. 
Diodorus Siculus describing the overflowing of the Nile, 
says that "many of the land animals overtaken by it are 
destroyed, being baptized," that is overwhelmed and sunk 
in the water. || In a book " concerning wonderful narra- 

* co^svv xal tovtov irtl xsfya'kqv /3artT , t,?<w7'a. Hunc quoque demer- 
so capite propellere. Timon, or the Misanthrope. 

f s^avfxa^ o(X£ v ovv l§ovi?e$ 6v ^a7iT!i^o^vov^ Ver. hist. I. ii. 

t psXkovtos j3a7ttL^86^tai tov axdtyov Antiq. Jud. I. ix. c. x. p. 285. 
ed. Basil, an. MDXLIIII. 

§ xov^sv j5a,7i't^o(xtvov^ Orat. xxiv. § x. 

II tW §e #fp(Wwt/ £typttov ?a 7to;M.a fxiv vrto tov rtotfa/xov 7t? ptTi^^f rta 
Siouj^c'pfrai, j3(X7t , rtf6 j ufjoi. Biblioth. hist. I. a. p. 23, edit. Henrici Ste- 
phani. 



MEANING OF THE TERM: BAPTIZE. 181 

tives," published among the works of Aristotle, and sup- 
posed by Erasmus, to have been compiled from different 
authors, it is said: "They relate concerning the Pheni- 
cians who inhabit Gadeira, that sailing beyond the pillars 
j of Hercules with an east wind, they came in four days to 
certain desert places, full of bulrushes and sea-weeds; 
which, on the reflux of the tide, are baptized; but when 
it is full tide are covered over."* The term seems here to 
mean the being left uncovered, although somewhat sunk in 
j water; or if the negative be supplied, as the text is com- 
I monly cited, it means covered over with water. In neither 
passage can it mean plunged into the water. It is plain 
that without any violence to the term, according to classic 
usage, it may be applied to a person sunk in water, or 
covered with it, although he may not have been plunged, 
or dipt into it.t In the life of Theseus, founder of the city 
of Athens, Plutarch mentions a line of the Sybil, in which 
Athens is compared to a blown bladder, that may be some- 
what pressed down, but cannot sink. This, which is called 
to be baptized, does not imply total immersion.J Lucian, 
as Henricus Stephanus assures us, uses the noun for a 
laver.§ It is very often taken figuratively for being over- 
whelmed with affliction, as when Heliodorus says : " thy 

* 8$ 6Vav fifv au7i(ot^ r { /3a7tT , c^£C»^at, 6Ya*> $h 7t%r]fjLfxvpa xatax%v^- 
stf^ou,. L. de mirabil. prope finem. 

\ This is admitted by Hinton : " it may be safely affirmed . . . that 
the general meaning of haptizo is to dip, plunge, immerse ; and its 
secondary or occasional signification, to overwhelm literally, or figura- 
tively." A History of Baptism, by Isaac T. Hinton, p. 21. 

t Atxos ,3artrt^, fiiwae. 8s toe ov 9£/m$ sort- "Thou art dipt, O 
1 bladder; but thou can'st not go down." 

§ n3a7tf c5tj ex Luciano affertur pro lavaero. See Lexicon Henric. 
Stephan. 

16 



182 MEANING OF THE TERM: BAPTIZE. 

misfortunes baptize thee.* It also frequently signifies in- 
toxication, as many examples quoted by Henricus Ste- 
phanus plainly show. Lucian speaks of a river in India, 
whereof he who drinks, becomes like a man thoroughly 
baptized, that is totally intoxicated.! The pouring in of 
liquor to excess is here styled baptizing. 

The force of the term as employed in the New Testa- 
ment, is not however to be determined by the use of the 
classic authors of Greece, so much as by reference to the 
corresponding term in Hebrew, and to the Septuagint in- 
terpreters of the Old Testament, and to the Jewish books 
composed in Greek. George Campbell justly observes : 
"Though the New Testament is written in Greek, an ac- 
quaintance with the Greek classics (that is, with the writ- 
ings of profane authors in that tongue in prose and verse) 
will not be found so conducive to this end, as an acquaint- 
ance with the ancient Hebrew Scriptures. "J " It must be 
remembered," says he afterwards, " that all the penmen of 
the New Testament were Jews, the greater part Hebrews, 
not Hellenists ; but whether they be Hebrews, or Hellen- 
ists, as they wrote in Greek, the version of the LXX. 
would serve as a model in what concerned propriety of ex- 
pression on religious subjects. "§ " In a language spoken, 
as Greek was then, in many distant countries, all indepen- 
dent of one another, there inevitably arise peculiarities in 
the acceptations of words in different regions. "|| It must 
be manifest that the inference drawn from classic usage is 

* Cited by Mr. Booth apud Gilbert, Tract, iii. Mode of Baptism, 
p. 131. 

f fie6a7it(,6iA,£vcj> souxsi'- Allocutio, seu Bacchus. 

$ Preliminary Dissertation i. n. 2. 

§ Ibidem, n. 8. || Ibidem, n. 9. 



MEANING OF THE TERM : BAPTIZE. 183 

not conclusive. " Classical use," Campbell remarks, " both 
in Greek and Latin, is not only in this study sometimes un- 
available, but may even mislead. The sacred use and the 
classical are often very different."* 

As we have not the Syriac original of St. Matthew, we 
must learn the corresponding Hebrew term,t by having 
recourse to the version of the Old Testament by the Sep- 
tuagint, where the Greek term is found, and then consult- 
ing the Hebrew text. In speaking of Naaman, the Syrian 
general, who, by order of the prophet Eliseus, bathed, or 
washed himself seven times in the river Jordan, the Sep- 
tuagint use this term, so that it might be literally rendered, 
"he was baptized seven times. "J Here the classical sig- 
nification of dipping to wash himself is sustained ; and the 
usual classical term for bathing or washing is employed in 
the same narrative to express the order of the prophet.§ 
The Hebrew terms vary accordingly, the one expressing 
simply the order to wash ;|| the other its fulfilment by 
bathing or dipping himself. ^J This, however, it may be 
insisted on, proves the assertion of Baptists, because the 
meaning plainly is, that he dipped himself seven times in 
ihe Jordan.** Yet let it not be forgotten, that the two He- 

* Diss. ii. part ii. p. 71. 

-j- From the language of some Baptist writers, it might be thought 
that oar Saviour himself used the Greek term, " Has not," asks Hinton, 
" our Saviour employed that every word which was employed by all 
the writers of the Greek language, when for any purpose they direct- 
immersion] " Hist, of Bapt. §. 6. p. 45. 

4= a,3artT'ttfa?'o. 4 Kings v. 14. (in Prol. version) 2 Kings v. 14. 
§ 7,»crac. Ibidem, v. 10. 

ii mm * Sao: 

t i t ■* : • 

** Lev. xiv. 8. Numb. xix. 19, and passim. 



184 MEANING OF THE TERM: BAPTIZE. 

brew terms which express washing and dipping, are here 
used as synonymous,* and the Greek terms in like manner : 
whence it is fair to conclude, that in giving the term bap- 
tize the meaning of bathing, or washing, the manner of 
washing by dipping was not necessarily implied, since a 
bath can be had by infusion, or even by copious aspersion. 
Many prescriptions of the old law require the washing of 
the body, which they always express by the term washing, 
without assigning the mode of doing so. In general this 
washing was to be the act of the individual himself: but 
even when Aaron was ordered to wash his sons in water, 
previous to their consecration as priests, the same term was 
used, without any reference to the manner.t It does not 
appear that any importance was attached to the mode of 
ablution. 

In the book of Judith it is related, that she went out by 
night from the camp of Holophernes, for the purpose of 
prayer, and washed at a fountain of water in the valley of 
Bethulia. The Greek text may be literally rendered : 
"she was baptized in the valley on, or at, the fountain of 
water."J This does not necessarily suggest the idea of 
bathing, and still less the peculiar mode of dipping ; but I 
shall leave the reader to his own conjectures, and hasten to 
a more decisive example. In the book of Ecclesiasticus, 
the term baptized is used to express the purification from 

* I have conceded what some call in question. Hay, in his treatise 
on Baptism, says: " Even this instance seems to be doubtful : for the 
law prescribed that the leper should be ' sprinkled' seven times for 
his cleansing. Lev. xiv. 7. And as the prophet desired him to wash 
seven times in Jordan, he must have had respect to the law for the 
cleansing of lepers." p. 18. 

f Exod. xxix. 4. and xl. 12. 

i sPaat'tL^s'to h tf*} rtapspftohri irCt trfi 7tqyri$'t8 vdato$. Jud. xii. 10. 



MEANING OF THE TERM : BAPTIZE. 185 

the legal uncleanness contracted by touching a corpse. The 
Greek text is literally rendered : " He that is baptized after 
touching a corpse, and toucheth it again, what hath he pro- 
fited by his washing?"* From reference to the law pre- 
scribing the mode of expiation, we have reason to conclude 
that baptized here means sprinkled with the water of ex- 
piation.t It was ordained that a red heifer should be im- 
molated, and burnt, and water thrown on her ashes, to serve 
for legal purifications. If a man touched a corpse, he was 
considered unclean for seven days, and on the third day, 
and on the seventh, he was to be sprinkled with this water : 
" Every one that toucheth the corpse of a man, and is not 
sprinkled with this mixture,^ shall profane the tabernacle 
of the Lord, and shall perish out of Israel, because he was 
not sprinkled with the water of expiation, he shall be un- 
clean, and his uncleanness shall remain upon him."§ The 
washing of the body on the seventh day was enjoined on 
the person who made the aspersion, not on the person who 
had contracted the defilement : whence the purification is 
uniformly referred to the aspersion, and is thus spoken of 
by St. Paul : " the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled sanc- 
tify such as are defiled to the cleansing of the flesh." || 
In connexion with this, I may refer to Josephus, the 

*fta7t'ti£o(A£vos arto vzxpx xai ito.'Kw artTfofAsvos <W«, ii uifyzhrjtis 
1<$ ter'po avtH. Eccl. xxxiv. 25. in Vulgate, v. 30. 

j- Hinton passes over this passage artfully, by referring to his obser- 
vations about to be made on Luke x. 5 — 8. See History of Baptism, 
§. iii. p. 31. 

t The text does not here specify the mode of purification which the 
Latin interpreter expressed on the authority of the words which fol- 
low, and of the 19th verse, in both which places it is specified. 

§ Numbers xix. 13. || Heb. ix. 13. 

16* 



186 MEANING OF THE TERM: BAPTIZE. 

famous Jewish historian, who was contemporary with the 
Apostles, and who speaks of this ceremony of purification on 
occasion of touching a corpse, as consisting in an aspersion 
made on the third and seventh day. He uses also the term 
baptize, not indeed to express the act of aspersion, as some 
maintain, but rather the dipping of a branch of hyssop into 
the water wherein the ashes lay, to sprinkle therewith the 
defiled person.* This preparatory act being most fre- 
quently designated by the corresponding Hebrew term, 
there is such a connection between it and the aspersion 
which follows, that it would not be strange if one term 
should be popularly and consequentially used for the whole 
rite. It is certainly manifest that baptize, as used by Jo- 
sephus in this place, has a meaning widely different from 
total immersion. Carson, a Baptist writer, pretends that 
it means plunging the ashes into the water: but this can 
scarcely be admitted, since the casting of the ashes into 
the font had already been expressed. 

The word baptize is used in a figurative meaning by the 
Septuagint, in the translation of Isaiah, where the terrors 
which seized on Balthassar, and overwhelmed him, are de- 
scribed. " My heart is astray, and iniquity baptizes me, 
my soul has been struck with fear."t The meaning here 
is to overwhelm, in which sense baptize is frequently used 
by the classic and ecclesiastical authors. 

No other examples are afforded us, in the Septuagint, to 
determine the meaning in which to baptize was understood. 

* tfoi^ »i> arto isxpov ntfjLia,($iJLzvov$, tyjs tff<2>pa$ d'kiyov slf rtrjyrjv 
svtsvtss xoli vcf60)7tovi ^a7iti6<xvtes T'f xcu fijf tff^paj 'twill els Tifjyrv 
IjjIjcuvov fpUri It xal £j58ofji'vj t?u>v qfiFptov xal xa^tapou *0p %otHov <qoav. 
De Antiquit. Judaic. 1. iv. c. iv. p. 96. edit. Basil. MDXLIIU. 

f Isaiah xxi. 14. 



MEANING OF THE TERM: BAPTIZE. 187 

These, however, prove that it meant to bathe, or wash, 
and that it sometimes was taken for a partial ablution or 
aspersion. 

Waiving this latter point, if it be granted that it was the 
popular term among Hellenistic Hebrew writers for bath- 
ing, as the examples adduced must at least be admitted to 
show, the employment of it by the sacred writers, when 
recording the Apostolic commission, and when speaking of 
this rite, would only prove that a bathing, or washing, was 
prescribed.* No proof could be fairly drawn from the 
original force of the term, that a peculiar mode should be 
observed in this bath, or washing. The passages in which 
it is actually called a bath, or laver, would harmonize with 
this view, and the question then would simply be, what 
could be esteemed such ; not, after what manner it should 
be given. 

From St. Mark it is apparent that the term baptize was 
used among the Jews in the time of our Saviour, for an 
ablution customary before meals, on returning from the 
market-place: " when they come from the market, unless 
they be baptized, they eat not."t It can scarcely be imagin- 
ed that this was the immersion of the whole body. Rosen- 

* It is with reference to the received meaning of the term that 
Gousset, a learned Protestant author of a Hebrew Lexicon says : 
" Sacro baptismo melius congruit Vf^" This term, as before ob- 
served, expresses simply washing, and although, when absolutely used, 
it generally signifies the washing of the whole body, it does not imply 
any peculiar mode of washing it. In conjunction with other words, 
it frequently expresses the washing of a particular part of the body, 
such as the hands, face, and feet. Gen. xviii.4. xix. 2. xliii. 31. Ex. 
xxx. 21. Deut. xxi. 6. 

f tav uy 3artTiZuvT(u- Mark vii. 4. 



188 MEANING OF THE TERM: BAPTIZE. 

muller supposes it to have been the mere dipping of the 
hands in water.* Spencer, in his learned treatise on the 
ritual observances of the Jews, explains it of the dipping 
of the hands up to the wrist.t Bloomfield thinks that it 
implies the washing of the bodies, " in which, however, 
is not implied immersion. "J The evangelist applies the 
term baptisms to express the Jewish purificatory rites de- 
rived from ancient tradition, namely, " the washings of 
cups and of pots, and of brazen vessels and of beds."§ 
The learned lexicographer Henricus Stephanus, refers to 
this passage, and to a similar one from St. Luke, as pre- 
senting the meaning of washing, or making an ablution. || 
St. Paul calls the various ablutions of the old law, many 
of which were by aspersion, divers baptisms :% in contra- 
distinction to the one baptism of Christ. Thus it appears 
manifest that the term was, in his time, used indiscrimi- 
nately for all kinds of ablution.** 

Baptize is used in a figurative sense, when it is said : 
" He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with 
fire."tt As figurative language has always some refe- 
rence to the literal force of terms, it is obvious that baptize 
cannot mean exclusively to dip, or plunge, since it would 
be absurd to say : He shall dip you in the Holy Ghost and 

* In Mark vii. 3. jSarttf^scr^at manus aquae immergere. 

-j- "Judseis solemne erat nunc ^spvt7i'tsi,v aqua affusa manus abluere, 
nunc Parties iv manus carpo ten us aquis emergere." Spencer, de 
legibus Hebraeorum ritualibus. 1. iv. c. xii. §. ii. See also Parkhurst's 
Lexicon, Poke's Miscell. Lightfoot's Horse Hebraic®. 

t Bloomfield, in Mark vii. 4. 

§ Mark vii, 4. 

|| Abluo, Lavo. Marc. vii. 4. Luc. xiii. 38. 

H &t,a$opol$ jSartT'Kfyioi $. Heb. ix. 10. 

** Matt. ii. 11. ff Matt. iii. 2. 



MEANING OF THE TERM ! BAPTIZE. 189 

fire. The communication of the Holy Spirit is uniformly 
represented in the Scriptures as an infusion,* and tongues 
of fire sat on each of the disciples when he descended into 
their hearts. However abundant the communication of 
this Divine Spirit may have been, it is clear that it is signi- 
fied in Scripture by infusion, rather than by immersion. 
Taking to wash or cleanse, as the popular signification of 
the term, its figurative use can be understood, since fire 
serves to cleanse and purify. 

An attempt is made to determine the Scriptural accepta- 
tion of the term, by reference to its application to the rite 
performed by John. As to the mode in which John bap- 
tized, many circumstances favor the opinion that it was by 
some kind of immersion. It was performed at, or in, the 
river Jordan,! into which, if the instance of our Saviour 
be considered an example of the mode generally observed, 
the candidate descended, and thence came up to the bank. 
The place Enon, near Salem, was chosen, because there 
were many streams,! or, as others will have it, much water 

* Acts ii. 17. x. 44, 45. xix. 6. 

j- St. Cyril, of Alexandria, observes of John : " In that he baptized 
not in the same fountains as Christ, but near Salem, and in some of 
the neighboring fountains around, he pointed out, in a way, the differ- 
ence of the baptisms, showing, as in a figure, that his baptism is not 
the same as that from our Saviour Jesus Christ, yet was near it, and 
around it, bringing in a sort of preparation and introduction of the 
more perfect." In Joan. hi. 22. This ancient and venerable writer 
does not appear to have thought, that the sacred text implies, that John 
generally baptized in the bed of the river. 

± v8ata TCoXka- John iii. 22. I attach no importance to these minor 
points. It is curious to read the observations of some writers. " It is 
certain that he could not have chosen such a place for immersion. 
The simple fact that the word is plural, (many streams or springs,) 



190 MEANING OF THE TERM : BAPTIZE. 

there. Yet the manner of baptizing is by no means be- 
yond question, since the vast multitudes that thronged from 
Jerusalem and Judea generally, could not, without diffi- 
culty, be immersed by John; especially as he necessarily 
devoted considerable time to their instruction, and to re- 
ceive the confession of their sins.* It is not to be forgot- 
ten, that the legal purifications of great multitudes were all 
performed by aspersion ;t which renders it not improbable 
that this mode was followed by the Precursor, at least when 
a number was to be baptized. As to the particular instance 
of the baptism of our adorable Saviour, His descent into 
the water shows rather His partial immersion by Himself, 
inasmuch as a great part of his body may be presumed to 
have been under water ; but His immersion by John is not 
thence safely inferred, unless the term " baptize" can be 

decides this point. One man could not immerse in many places at 
once, nor could he need many rivulets or springs for that purpose. 
"Why, then, must this field preacher go to Enon, a place well sup- 
plied with springs 1 Because it was no easy matter to find water in 
that region, to accommodate the thousands that came to him, with 
their camels and other beasts. Enon, furnished with many springs, 
afforded rare conveniences for a camp-meeting, assembled to remain 
many days." Hints to an Inquirer on the subject of Baptism, by 
Parsons Cooke and Joseph H. Towne, Boston, 1842. p. 38. 

* It is amusing to read some of the calculations of those who deny 
that John immersed : "The passage of Scripture which I have quoted," 
says one of the parties in a dialogue, " interpreted by the circum- 
stances, cannot import less than 500,000. Suppose that he immersed 
one every minute — to have immersed 500,000, he must have stood 
breast high in the water, twelve hours every day, for nearly two whole 
years. But his ministry was little more than a year and a half, and 
during part of that time he was in prison. Ibidem, p. 37. 

f Exod. xxiv. 8. Numb. 8. 7. 



MEANING OF THE TERM : BAPTIZE. 191 

proved to imply it. It is worthy of observation, that the 
most ancient paintings, some of which are traced to the 
fifth century, represent John pouring the water on the Sa- 
viour already immersed above his waist:* which shows 
that even in times when immersion was practised in solemn 
baptism, it was not thought that the sacred narrative im- 
plied the plunging of the whole body of our Saviour by 
the hands of the Precursor. Such an action is scarcely 
reconcilable with the reverence due to his Divine Person, 
and seems never to have occurred to the ancients. 

I have no difficulty however in granting that those bap- 
tized by John may have been immersed ; but I should think 
this to be true, if they advanced into the water to a consi- 
derable depth, and there were either sprinkled, as their 
number may lead us to suppose, or received the infusion of 
water from the hands of the Baptist; their position in deep 
water being a real, although not a total immersion. As the 
1 washing of the body in the Old Law was not prescribed to 
be done in any peculiar way, I can see no reason for sup- 
posing that John attached any importance to the mode : his 
object being to indicate by the rite itself, the washing of the 
soul from sin, by the tears of repentance. 

* The inside of the dome of the Baptistery at Ravenna, contains a 
i representation of this kind, and it is thought by learned antiquarians 
to have been put in its present form in the year 451, by Neon, Arch- 
bishop of Ravenna. See Gilbert on Mode of Baptism, p. 156. Ma- 
machi gives us the copy of an ancient medal preserved in the Victo- 
rian Museum at Rome, in which our Redeemer is represented as 
standing in the water, and St. John pours the water on his head from 
a shell. The learned antiquarian does not venture a conjecture as to 
the age of the medal, but thinks that its antiquity does not admit of 
question. Originum et Antiquitatum Christianarum, 1. ii. c. iv. §. 
hi. p. 238. 



- 



192 MEANING OF THE TERM : BAPTIZE, 

Some examples from the Fathers will show that wash- 
ing was considered the force of the term, and little attention 
was paid to the primary meaning of dipping. 

St. Justin, in his dialogue with Trypho, the Jew, shows 
that the prophecies do not regard the mere legal purifica- 
tions, but christian baptism, which when received with a 
knowledge of divine truth, and with penitence, serves for 
the expiation of sin. He asks what is the use of their bap- 
tism, except to cleanse the flesh: " Let your soul be bap- 
tized," he says, " from anger and avarice, envy and hatred, 
and your body will be pure."* This use of the term, 
although figurative, shows that its popular signification was 
to wash, or cleanse ; since as the body was washed by the 
Jew in various circumstances, so he directs the soul to be 
purified from passion and vice. 

Clement, of Alexandria, speaking of the ablutions used 
by the Gentiles, preparatory to prayer and sacrifice, consi- 
ders that they present an image of baptism, and supposes 
the poets to have derived the idea of them from Moses. 
Thus "Penelope, with clean garments covering her body, 
being purified by water, approached prayer ; and Telema- 
chus, after having washed his hands in the foaming sea, 
offered his vows to Minerva. Like to this was the Jewish 
usage, as also frequently to be baptized after coition. "t 
Although the term baptized seems here used for the wash- 
ing of the body, it does not appear to refer necessarily to 
the act of dipping, but to be taken in a sense equivalent to 
bathing, expressed by classic authors by the term hovopav. 
The examples adduced show that even the dipping of the 
hands, and the various Heathen lustrations before sacrifice 

* fiarttiG&rts tyv ^v%y]v arto opy^j. Dial, cum Tryph. 
f Stromat. 1. iv. p. 628, edit. Ven. 1757. 



MEANING OF THE TERM: BAPTIZE. 193 

or prayer were considered images of baptism. It is known 
that these ablutions sometimes were mere sprinklings; 
sometimes the washing of the hands, or of the head, and 
sometimes of the whole body.* 

Origen thus addresses the Pharisees : " Whence were 
you led to think, that Elias when he should come, would 
baptize, who, in Achab's time, did not baptize the wood 
upon the altar, which required a washing, in order that on 
the Lord's appearing in fire, it might be burnt? For he 
ordered the priests to perform that. He, therefore, who 

i did not himself then baptize, but assigned that work to 
others, how was it likely that he should baptize, when he 
was to come according to the prediction of Malachy?"t 
The pouring of water on the wood is here expressed by 
the term baptizing. St. Basil considers the same action 

! as the type of baptism, which unites us to God.J 

The impartial examination of the Fathers will, I am per- 
suaded, show that the term baptize with them was equiva- 
lent to the classical term for bathing, or washing the body, 
and that this use of the term was derived from the Hebrew 
Hellenistic writers. It will be easily perceived that no 
stress whatever was placed by them on the manner in 
which this might be done ; although with reference to the 

i solemn mode then generally observed, they dwelt, as occa- 
sion offered, on the instruction conveyed by their represen- 
tative burial with Christ,§ beneath the baptismal waters : 
but they likewise dwelt, with no less emphasis, on their 
entire spoliation of all earthly impediments and attach- 
ments, and their return to the state of primeval innocence, 

* See Rees's Encyclopaedia. Art. Ablution. 

| Comm. in Joan. $ Horn. xiii. in S. Baptisma. 

§ St. Cyril, Jer. Cat. Myst, ii. 4, 5. 

17 



194 MEANING OF THE TERM I BAPTIZE. 

and their conformity with their Saviour exposed naked on 
the cross, by their entire nudity on entering the purifying- 
stream. 

I trust it is now evident, that as the Hebrew term which 
originally signified to dip slightly before aspersion, was in a 
secondary sense used to signify bathing, so the correspond- 
ing Greek term, which in its origin implied dipping, was 
by Hebrew Hellenistic usage taken for washing, and that 
the consequential signification was retained in cases where 
the manner which gave rise to it w T as not observed. When 
Christ, therefore, ordered his Apostles to baptize, he was 
necessarily understood to enjoin a washing with water, but 
there was no sufficient reason for supposing that any stress 
was laid on the manner in which it was to be performed. 
Can we suppose the christian institution to be more for- 
mal than the Mosaic, which left the mode of such ablutions 
of the body undetermined ? Was there any peculiar virtue 
attached to the manner of performing a rite, the obvious end 
whereof was to exhibit externally that purification of the 
soul which divine grace interiorly effected ? Washing with 
water represents this internal purity ; but plunging has no 
necessary connexion with it. 

I am aware how difficult it is for persons not conversant 
with the Hebrew and Greek languages to perceive the jus- 
tice and force of these remarks : and this shows the absur- 
dity of leaving a christian rite to be determined by each 
individual according to his idea of the meaning of a Greek 
word. Christ cannot have left an institution of such uni- 
versal necessity dependant on a critical inquiry of this 
kind : but as He appointed ministers to perform it, so must 
He have guarantied their acts, and imposed the duty of re- 
ceiving it from their hands. Otherwise not only the unlet- 



MEANING OF THE TERM: BAPTIZE. 195 

tered, who form the immense majority of mankind, but the 
learned themselves would be in interminable doubt from 
the great latitude and variety of the meaning of words : and 
even were its classic import clear, they could not satisfy 
themselves, that a term employed to designate a christian 
rite, should be taken in the sense which it bore before it 
was applied to this new and sublime purpose. 



APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XL 

In order to simplify the investigation, I have confined 
my remarks to the term pa.7tn£ui. It is proper, however, to 
observe that the Hebrew term ^J[£3» which in 4 Kings v. 
14, is rendered by |3arti , tfco, is generally rendered jSarfT'co, 
and that most writers, both among Baptists and their oppo- 
nents, agree that the terms are equivalent. William Hague 
replying to Towne, says : " they are, as Mr. T. observes, 
both from one root, and so nearly identical in meaning as 
to allow our speaking of them as one word." Review of 
Hints to an Inquirer, p. 11. The ordinary meaning of 
the Hebrew term, and the corresponding Greek, is to dip 
the finger, or some instrument in a liquid for the purpose 
of aspersion. Hence they are used to express the dipping 
of the finger in blood, or the dipping of a bunch of hyssop 
in water to sprinkle therewith. See Lev. iv. 6. xiv. 6 ; 
Num. xix. 18. It sometimes expresses the dipping of food 
in vinegar, or sauce, to give it relish. See Ruth ii. 14. 
The dipping of the tip of the rod of Jonathan in honey- 
comb is expressed in the same way, 1 Kings xiv. 27. The 
Greek tern is used in the New Testament to express the 






196 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XI. 

act of Judas dipping the bread in the dish, John xiii. 26 ; 
and the dipping of the tip of the finger of Lazarus in water, 
which the condemned glutton prayed for, to mitigate the 
burning of his tongue. Luke xvi. 24. The setting of the 
soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark, in the waters 
of the Jordan, is expressed by the same Hebrew verb, and 
rendered by the Greek verb in a compound form. Josue 
iii. 13. The dipping of the feet in oil is used to express 
the abundance of olive plantations in the territory of Aser. 
Deut. xxxiii. 24. Nabuchodonosor is said to have been 
thus dipped in the dew of heaven, that is wet as if dipped, 
in a sense analogous to an actual dipping. Dan. iv. 30. 
This is imitated in Milton's Comus : 

A cold shuddering dew 
Dips me all o'er. 

From both these examples, it is apparent that a certain 
resemblance in effect led to the employment of the term, 
where no kind of dipping had taken place. The dipping 
of the coat of Joseph in the blood of a kid, in order to 
present it besmeared with blood to his father, is expressed 
by the same Hebrew term, but rendered in Greek e>o&w<u>, 
"they defiled" Gen. xxxvii. 31. The warrior, returning 
from battle with his blood-stained garment, as described by 
Isaiah, is said by St. John to have his garment fo/Sa^W 
tt^aft sprinkled or stained with blood. Apoc. xix. 13. "It 
is obvious," Hague acknowledges, " that a thing may be 
coloured by being sprinkled, but," he adds, " bapto does 
not designate that act, and could never be used in connec- 
tion with it in a literal sense, unless it were to express the 
idea that the substance had become thoroughly drenched, 



APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XI. 197 

or wet, as if it had been dipt."* This is an acknowledg- 
ment that it may be used by analogy where no dipping has 
taken place ; and the examples show that even a thorough 
drenching is not required. 

It appears clear, from the passages quoted, that the Scrip- 
tural use of the Hebrew and Greek terms generally denotes 
dipping, but mostly of a slight kind, preparatory to sprink- 
ling, and quite different from total immersion : and that it 
sometimes is taken, by analogy, or as some would say, 
consequentially, for an effect bearing some resemblance to 
what would be the consequence of dipping, although the 
person or object was in no way dipt. 

The classical use of the Greek term is to dip, generally 
for the purpose of dyeing, as wool or other material is dipt : 
whence it is frequently used to signify dyeing, or colour- 
ing, without any regard whatever to the process of dipping. 
Aristotle, treating of colours, applies the term to flowers : 
td parttoiisva tZ>v hv^Z>v. L. Be color. Lucian describes cour- 
tesans as painting their cheeks, and uses this term to ex- 
press it. See Tryphdena et Charmides, also, Cynicus, 
Be moribus philosophorum. The tinging of the clouds 
with blood in a battle which the same author has fancifully 
described, is called by this term. Lib. 1. Ver. hist. 

(5a7ttco, from signifying to dip for the purpose of dyeing, 
signifies by implication to tinge, to dye, as Robinson, in 
his Lexicon remarks; and as a vessel is dipt for the pur- 
pose of drawing up water, it in like manner signifies to 
draw up water. Callimachus says : " To-day, ye bearers 
of water draw none" wfiaTttEtt. Nicander says : avtrjv a?ux 
partis, draw the sea water itself. Hence Donegan's Lexi- 
con says that the verb means, " to draw out water by 
* Review of Hints, p. 12. 

17* 



198 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XI. 

dipping a vessel into it." By analogy if might be used 
where a vessel is filled with water without dipping it. 

In the same way, it being conceded that jSarttftfco means 
originally to dip, or immerse the person; yet as the immer- 
sion is for the purpose of washing, to signify by the ex- 
ternal act the purification of the soul, it may be applied to 
any kind of washing, without regard to the manner which 
gave occasion to the term. It is in this sense Beza said : 
"j3a7tti& does not signify to wash, except by consequence."* 
Turretin speaks to the same effect.t Schleusner, in his 
Lexicon, states, that as immersion and dipping in the water 
is usually done for the purpose of washing, j3a7tT , tfw second- 
ly signifies to wash, or cleanse with water. 

* Ep. ii. ad Thorn. Filium. 

| Turretin observes : " Quia vero fere aliquid mergi et tingi solet, 
ut lavetur, qui immerguntur solent ablui; hinc factum, ut quemadmo- 
dum apud Hebrseos *n^fA quod lxx vertunt jSart-nfto, 2 Reg. v. 14, 
etiam accipiatur pro VrV"} quod est lavare : Ibid, ita apud Graecos 

'to fiaTtTH&iv, per melalepsim, pro eodem usurpetur. Marc. vii. 4." De 
Baptismo. 



199 



CHAPTER XII. 



APOSTOLIC PRECEDENTS. 



In order to decide the question of what is essential to 
christian baptism, it were of great importance that we 
should know the practice of the Apostles, who, doubtless, 
acted in perfect accordance with the will of their Divine 
Master : yet it has pleased the Holy Spirit so to guide the 
pen of the inspired writers, that we are left, in most in- 
stances, to conjecture the mode that may have been adopt- 
ed. In the first most solemn instance of its administration, 
when three thousand souls were added to the church on the 
day of Pentecost, at the preaching of Peter, no details are 
furnished us of the manner of their baptism : " They there- 
fore that received his word were baptized : and there were 
added in that day about three thousand souls."* The most 
obvious inference from this statement is, that they were not 
baptized by immersion : whence St. Thomas of Aquin 
refers to it as an instance of baptism by aspersion, al- 
though he wrote when immersion was practised : but the 
sacred writer being silent as to the mode, nothing can be 
affirmed with certainty. I am content with referring to 

* Acts ii. 41. Whoever wishes to be amused at the trivial difficul- 
ties objected by sectarian writers, may take in hand the Hints to an 
Inquirer already cited: "It would require miraculous despatch to get 
through with all the essential preliminaries in less than half a day." — 
"Who provided them with immersing gowns'?" etc. etc. p. 47. 



200 APOSTOLIC PRECEDENTS. 

this case as calculated to check the confidence with which 
immersion is asserted to be essential. The circumstances 
of the baptism of the jailor and all his family in the night, 
in his own house, which was doubtless immediately con- 
nected with the prison, lead to a like inference. Paul and 
Silas " spoke the word of the Lord to him and all that were 
in his house. And he taking them in the same hour of the 
night washed their wounds, and he was baptized, and pre- 
sently all his family."* Cornelius and his family were 
baptized, after Peter had instructed them ; but as to the 
mode, we are again left to conjecture : yet the language of 
the Apostle and the circumstances in which he spoke, 
being in the house of Cornelius, do not present the idea of 
immersion : "Can any man forbid water, that these should 
not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well 
as we?"t The baptism of the disciples at Ephesus imme- 
diately followed the instruction of Paul, and w T as succeeded 
by the imposition of hands, and no intimation is given of 
the delay which immersion might require : " having heard 
these things they were baptized in the name of the Lord 
Jesus. And when Paul had imposed his hands on them, 
the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spoke tongues 
and prophesied. "J The baptism of Saul himself was per- 
formed by Ananias, who visited him then blind, in the 
house of a private individual : " He received his sight, and 
rising up he was baptized. "§ The only instance favour- 
able to the supposition that immersion was used, is that of 
the eunuch baptized by Philip : in which case the occur- 
rence of water by the road-side, as they journeyed along, 
gave occasion to the baptism. The tradition of the country 

* Acts xvi. 32. f Acts x. 47. 

t Acts xix. 5. § Ibidem ix. 18. 



APOSTOLIC PRECEDENTS. 201 

testified by Eusebius, St. Jerom, and by modern travellers, 
states that it was a spring near Bethsoron, whose waters 
are forthwith drunk up by the earth.* 

It is remarkable that in no instance of the administration 
of christian baptism, is it stated, that a river, or stream, was 
sought out for the purpose. Without affirming any thing 
positively where positive proof does not exist, we can fairly 
say that the sacred narrative is highly favourable to the be- 
lief that immersion was not exclusively adopted. 

Although from the descent of our Lord into the water, 
when He was baptized by John, and from the descent of 
the eunuch into the water, in order to receive baptism from 
Philip, and from the most obvious meaning of the term 
baptize, presumptions may arise that the Apostles ordina- 
rily baptized by some kind of immersion, yet candour 
should admit that there is no conclusive proof of it in 

* See Hints to an Inquirer, p. 52. The farcical scenes which are 
exhibited by preachers endeavouring to make facts of Scripture sub- 
servient to their sectarian views, are calculated to render Christianity 
ridiculous in the eyes of unbelievers, whilst they must bewilder the 
ignorant. A Baptist preacher in Kentucky, when about to immerse a 
negTO slave in a creek, called to the spectators, and observed : This 
looks very like Philip and the eunuch. Cooke and Towne relate that 
in Charlestown, two preachers, a Baptist and Methodist, were baptiz- 
ing at the same time by the water's side. The Baptist with his can- 
didate went down into the water, saying on his way: "And they 
i went down into the water; both Philip and the eunuch;" and after 
I the immersion, they returned, the preacher repeating in triumph the 
I words of the sacred text : " And they came up out of the water." The 
\ Methodist did in like manner, save that instead of immersing his pro- 
i selyte, when they both stood in the water, he poured water on his 
i head : but the going down into the water, and coming up out of the 
water, were verified in both cases, and the words were repeated in a 
like tone of triumph. Hints to an Inquirer, p. 51. 



202 APOSTOLIC PRECEDENTS, 

Scripture : the greatest argument in favour of it being the 
acknowledged fact that immersion was the ordinary mode 
used by their successors, who must doubtless be presumed 
to have adhered to their example. Those who rely on the 
Bible alone, may well be bewildered with the various infer- 
ences drawn from the facts there recorded, and the testi- 
monies in which reference is made to baptism ; but with 
the light of ancient tradition, derived from the Apostles, 
we can attain to a high degree of probability as to their 
ordinary practice, which, in those circumstances, added to 
the solemnity of the rite itself, and which in no way dis- 
proves the validity of the less solemn modes, which in later 
ages have so generally prevailed. 

In giving the commission to baptize, our Divine Re- 
deemer added His warranty for the integrity and efficacy 
of the rite: "behold I am with you all days even to the 
consummation of the world." No stronger or more solemn 
assurance could be given, that the Apostolic ministry would 
always baptize, teach, make disciples, and perform the other 
sacred functions in the spirit of their Divine Master. The 
terms: " I am with you ;" in scriptural style express the 
effectual assistance of God ; and if Christ effectually assist 
his ministers in baptizing, who can suppose that they can 
pervert the institution, and generally adopt and solemnly 
approve a method at variance with His will ? He is with 
them when they teach ; and by His grace He disposes the 
minds of their hearers to receive with docility the words 
of salvation which they announce in His name : He is 
present with them, enlightening them that they may be the 
light of the world. He is with them baptizing, communi- 
cating His grace, and baptizing in the Holy Spirit those 
whom they wash with water in the name of the three 






APOSTOLIC PRECEDENTS. 203 



Divine Persons. He guards them against any corruption 
of so sacred an institution, which would deprive His disci- 
ples of the benefit which He meant should be imparted by 
it. It is impossible, consistently with so solemn a promise, 
that that ministry could ever adopt and sanction a mode of 
baptizing contrary to His institution. The promise em- 
braces the successors of the Apostles to the consummation 
of the world. It does not regard each individually, unless 
inasmuch as he is a member of the ministry, and acts in 
union with it: but it manifestly embraces, the ministry 
itself, the body, of which the Apostles were the first mem- 
bers, and which received a charter of perpetuity from the 
Sovereign who called it into existence. To them Christ 
gave the authority : on them He imposed the charge : and 
He pledged His own effectual presence, not merely to en- 
courage and animate them, but to give us an unfailing 
voucher of the integrity and efficacy of their ministry. 
"Let a man," says St. Paul, "so account of us as of the 
ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the ministers of 
God."* It is the duty of the faithful to receive the sacra- 
ments from their hands : and Christ is surety that they shall 
be properly administered. He has not left us to ascertain 
the means of salvation by literary investigations, wherein 
the mass of mankind must necessarily depend on the autho- 
rity of a few, who themselves are discordant; but He has 
authorized a class of men to administer, and promised His 
effectual co-operation. How absurd, then, is it to find thou- 
sands who know not how to read, and thousands who barely 
can read, and are utterly unacquainted with the learned lan- 
guages, determining for themselves the nature of this impor- 
tant rite, by reference to the term by which it is expressed 
* 1 Cor. iv. 1. 



204 APOSTOLIC PRECEDENTS. 

in Greek ! How presumptuous is it even for learned men 
to decide a point of this character by the etymology, or 
primary signification of a term, which, in its transition 
from the classic writers of Heathenism to Jews and Chris- 
tians, may easily have suffered a modification and change 
of meaning ! 

By lodging in the same persons the power of teaching 
and baptizing, Christ has left us to learn from the Aposto- 
lic ministry what is to be considered true baptism, and to 
receive it from their hands. If a question be mooted as to 
the nature, manner and effects of baptism, their sentence 
must be final, for they alone are constituted our instructors. 
This is the warranty of Christ, against which no exception 
can be advanced. If we receive baptism from the hands of 
those whom He has commissioned to baptize, how can we 
be held responsible for the mode in which it is adminis- 
tered ? They are the public officers, with the most solemn 
vouchers for their acts : it cannot be the first duty of a be- 
liever to sit in judgment on the ministers of religion ; and 
before he is initiated into Christianity, to determine whether 
they may not have utterly mistaken the nature of its primary 
institution. 



205 



CHAPTER XIII. 



DISPOSITIONS FOR BAPTISM. 



Infants are cleansed in baptism from original sin and 
adorned with sanctifying grace by the mere mercy of God, 
through the merits of Christ, without any disposition or 
co-operation on their part. It was one of the bold para- 
doxes of Luther that they were divinely enlightened at the 
moment to conceive justifying faith : to whom Catholic 
divines replied in the words of St. Augustin : "They cer- 
tainly cannot believe with the heart unto justice, and con- 
fess with the mouth unto salvation ... on the contrary cry- 
ing and screaming, whilst the mystery is celebrated in them, 
they drown the mystical words : although no christian would 
venture to say that they are baptized in vain."* Bishop 
Onderdonk says: "they are not subjects for the moral 
change ;"t which is true of that change of disposition to 
which he gives the name of moral regeneration : but the 
Scriptures and Fathers leave no doubt of their capacity to 
receive that divine gift of grace whereby they are born of 
God. " Salvation is perfected in them, as the entire church 
holds:" "the grace of the Almighty fulfils in them what 
their tender age renders impossible. "J Those who attain 
to maturity without the development of the intellectual 

* De Buptlsmo contra Donat. 1. iv. c. xxiii. 
I Essay on Baptism, p. 105. 
? Augustin ubl supra, et c. xxiv. 

18 



1 



206 DISPOSITIONS FOR BAPTISM. 

faculties, such as absolute idiots, are justly considered ad- 
missible to baptism, in the same way as infants, since they 
are naturally incapable of any personal preparation. 

All who enjoy the use of reason, even children who have 
just attained to it, must be instructed, in a manner suited to 
their age and capacity, before they are admitted to baptism. 
The divine command to teach, and by teaching make disci- 
ples, must be fulfilled : the Gospel must be made known 
to them : the whole counsel of God must be declared : all 
things whatsoever Christ delivered to the Apostles, and the 
Apostles to the church, must be propounded ; and the assent 
of faith must be given to all, at least in the principle by 
which all are embraced, before they are admitted to the 
sacred laver.* The mystery of Three Divine Persons, 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, under whose invocation^ 
and by whose authority, baptism is administered, must be 
in the first place believed ; for it is only in the faith of this 
Divine Trinity that sin can be washed away. The Divinity 
of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer, must be expli- 
citly professed : " This is eternal life : that they may know 
Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou 
hast sent."t " He that believeth in the Son hath life ever- 
lasting: but he that believeth not the Son, shall not see 
life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. "J " Neither is 
there salvation in any other. For there is no other name 
under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved. "§ 
Hence full unreserved belief was required by Philip of 
the eunuch demanding to be baptized : " If thou believest 
with thy whole heart, thou mayest: and he answering 

* The proposition in detail of various mysteries, especially the 
Eucharist, was according to ancient discipline postponed to baptism, 
f John xvii. 3. + Ibidem iii. 36. § Acts iv. 12. 



DISPOSITIONS FOR BAPTISM. 207 

said : I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."* 
When the jailer demanded of his holy prisoners what he 
should do to secure his salvation, Paul answered: "Be- 
lieve in the Lord Jesus :" and Paul and Silas " spoke the 
word of the Lord to him, and to all that were in his 
house. "t It was only on assenting to this teaching, that he 
and all his family were baptized. The Samaritans, in like 
manner, " when they had believed Philip preaching the 
kingdom of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, men and 
women were baptized. "f This faith in Christ is the cap- 
tivity of the understanding in obedience to His divine 
authority, and the levelling of every height of human pride 
that raiseth itself up against the knowledge of God.§ It 
recognizes Christ as the Son of the living God, to whose 
declaration of high mysteries every created intellect must 
bow. It adores Him as the Only-begotten of the Father, 
who is in the bosom of the Father, and has revealed all 
things whatsoever He learned from the Father to be com- 
municated to man : and it receives, on His testimony and 
teaching, all things whatsoever He revealed. It contem- 
plates Him always present with the Apostolic ministry, 
teaching all truth, and by His light, grace, and power, 
making the church the pillar and ground of truth. 

The practice of scrutiny, or examination, on seven dif- 
ferent days, observed in the primitive church, || was ground- 
ed on the necessity of instruction and faith. The catechu- 
men was interrogated as to his belief in the leading articles 
of religion, in which he was specially instructed at stated 
times : and he was taught the ancient symbol, styled of the 

* Acts viii. 37. f Ibidem xvi. 32. 

* Ibidem viii. 12. § See 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. 
j| Trombelli, diss. v. de bapt. t. i. §. 9, p. 207. 



208 DISPOSITIONS FOR BAPTISM. 

Apostles, which he recited as he approached the laver. In 
this preparatory process was literally fulfilled " the exami- 
nation of a good conscience towards God, by the resurrec- 
tion of Jesus Christ."* 

The adult applicant for baptism is also required to pledge 
himself to the observance of the whole Divine Law ; where- 
fore he is taught to observe all things whatsoever Christ 
our Lord commanded. His obedience, as well as his faith, 
must be unreserved. He must abjure all that is contrary to 
the maxims and law of Christ: he must renounce Satan, 
his works and pomps. He must cast away from him all 
his iniquities whereby he has transgressed, and, with a 
new heart and spirit, enter on a course of virtue, conform- 
able to the standard of the Gospel. The false maxims of 
the w T orld — the depraved customs of society — the vices and 
disorders to which most men are enslaved, must be for- 
saken ; since he is told that his entrance into life depends 
on keeping the divine commandments : " If thou wilt enter 
into life, keep the commandments. "t The ceremony of 
renouncing Satan is mentioned by TertullianJ and Origen,§ 
and explained in detail by St. Cyril, of Jerusalem, in his 
discourses to neophytes: "In the first place," he says, 
"you entered into the vestibule of the baptistery, and 
standing towards the west, you listened, and were ordered 
to stretch forth your hand, and you renounced Satan, as if 
he were present. . . . You hear the command given to say 
with outstretched hand, as if addressing him : I renounce 
thee, Satan. In the second formulary you are taught to 
say : And all thy works. The works of Satan are all 
kinds of sin, and must be renounced, as one fleeing from 

* 1 Pet. iii. 21. \ Roman Ritual 

+ De Spectac. § In Ps. xxxviii. horn. ii. 



DISPOSITIONS FOR BAPTISM. 209 

a tyrant, seeks to be beyond the reach of his weapons. 
Every kind of sin is numbered among the works of the 
devil. And know ye that whatever you utter in that awful 
moment is recorded in the book of God. Should you, 
then, do any thing to the contrary, you will be condemned 
as a prevaricator. You renounce the works of Satan — 
all thoughts and deeds contrary to reason. Afterwards 
you add: And all his pomp."* 

Sorrow for past offences is a necessary condition for 
receiving their forgiveness in baptism. Without it, it is 
impossible they should be cancelled. When the Jews 
"had compunction in their heart, and said to Peter and to 
the rest of the Apostles: What shall we do, men bre- 
thren?" " Peter said to them: Do penance, and be bap- 
tized."! This implied that they should cherish the feeling 
of compunction which they had begun to experience, and 
weep over the enormity of their crime. The applicants 
for the baptism of penance, which John administered, were 
wont to testify their compunction by confessing their sins ; 
and of christian converts we read: "Many of those who 
believed came confessing and declaring their deeds. "J As 
an evidence of their sincerity, they committed to the flames 
the superstitious writings by which they had been previ- 
ously led astray. I do not undertake to decide whether 
the persons here spoken of were applicants for baptism, or 
neophytes : but although sacramental confession cannot be 
made previously to baptism, and no kind of confession is 
enjoined by divine precept on unbaptized persons, it was 
certainly a part of ancient discipline to prepare catechumens 
for the remission of sins in baptism by the humiliating ex- 
ercise of confession, and by penitential works. St. Justin 

* Cat. xix. My«t. i. | Acts ii. 37. | Ibidem xix. 18. 

18* 



210 DISPOSITIONS FOR BAPTISM. 

mentions fasting: "Such as are persuaded and as believe 
the truth of the things taught and said by u?, and promise 
to live after this manner, are instructed to pray and ask of 
God, with fasting, the forgiveness of their past offences, 
and we unite with them in prayer and fasting."* Ter- 
tullian specifies confession: " Those who are about to 
receive baptism should prepare themselves by frequent 
prayers, fasts, genuflexions, and vigils, accompanied by 
the confession of all their past sins, that they may even 
exhibit the baptism of John. ' They were baptized,' he 
says, ' confessing their sins.' We may feel happy, that 
we are not publicly to confess our iniquity, or turpitude. 
For at the same time we satisfy for our former offences, by 
the humiliation of the flesh and of the spirit, and we fortify 
ourselves against the temptations that will follow."! St. 
Gregory, of Nazianzum, exhorts catechumens to confes- 
sion: " Do not deem it unworthy of you to confess your 
sin, knowing how John baptized. "J St. Chrysostom 
explains the end of all these penitential exercises to be, 
"that after the performance of penance, they might come 
to the sacred mysteries. "§ Although the present discipline 
of the church does not require any confession whatever 
before baptism, yet it behoves the candidate seriously to 
review his life, in order to discover what obligations he 
may be under, in consequence of past transgressions — 
what reparation of injuries is due — what debts of justice 
are to be discharged — what reconciliation with enemies is 
to be sought — and in case of doubt, to consult confidentially 
his spiritual adviser. Besides this, he should review, in 

* Apol. i.propefinem. 

f De Bapt. n. 20. * Orat. xl. n. 27. 

§ Horn. x. in Matt. n. 5, p. 145, t. vii. edit. Montfaucon. 



DISPOSITIONS FOR BAPTISM. 211 

the bitterness of his soul, the misspent years of life, and 
weep before God for having so long neglected to love and 
serve Him, and for his many and grievous sins. It is thus 
humbled and penitent he can approach with confidence to 
the sacred laver: there to be washed, justified, and sancti- 
fied in Christ Jesus. 



212 



CHAPTER XIV. 



CEREMONIES OF BAPTISM. 



The essence of baptism consists in an ablution made 
with water, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, with a view to perform the rite instituted by Christ, 
which is practised in His church. Hence we say: "I 
baptize thee, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost." Every thing else is ritual, or 
ceremonial, and may be omitted without injury to the sacra- 
ment, although not without sin, in its solemn administra- 
tion. It is usual to speak of the simplicity of worship in 
the Apostolic age ; and were we to admit the usual negative 
argument as proof, namely, that which is derived from the 
silence of the sacred writers of the New Testament, the 
primitive worship must have been extremely simple. But 
we cannot fail to observe that the Gospels are the compen- 
dious history of the life of our Lord, and could not be ex- 
pected to furnish details of the worship of the church after 
her formal organization and establishment, and that the 
Epistles are instructions on specific subjects directed to 
local churches already organized. The Acts of the Apos- 
tles might be expected to furnish details ; but a careful 
perusal of them will convince the impartial reader that the 
sacred historian had chiefly in view to place on record the 
chief facts that marked the origin of the church, and the 
leading points in the history of St. Paul, his beloved mas- 



CEREMONIES OF BAPTISM. 213 

ter. Nothing could be expected in such a book, but indi- 
rect or slight notices of liturgical practices, so that the want 
of detailed statements does not warrant the conclusion, that 
no ceremonies were used in the administration of baptism. 

It is an incontrovertible fact that a variety of ceremonies 
employed on this occasion are mentioned by the christian 
writers of the second century, and that they are not spoken 
of, as recently introduced, but as the established ceremonial, 
of which the origin is justly referred to the age of the 
Apostles. In the baptism of the three thousand first con- 
verts, if it took place on the day of their conversion,* as the 
sacred narrative most naturally suggests, not many accom- 
panying rites could have been employed. The eunuch was 
baptized by Philip, probably without any additional cere- 
mony, although conjecture is free on this point: but at a 
very early period of the church, much time was devoted to 
prepare catechumens for baptism, and a great variety of 
rites were used for that purpose. The form prescribed in 
the Roman Ritual, and used by us, far from being encum- 
bered with modern rites foreign to ancient simplicity, is a 
very brief compendium of the solemn ceremonial, which 
was performed at stated intervals preparatory to baptism. 
Seven scrutinies preceded the administration of this sacra- 
ment on Easter Saturday; three of them were made on 
Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday of the third week of 
Lent ; three others on the same days of the fourth week, 
and the last on Easter Saturday itself, immediately before 
the ablution. Three scrutinies only were made previous 
to solemn baptism on the Saturday before Pentecost ; one 
a week before, the second on Thursday, and the third on 
the day of baptism. 

* Calmet in locum thinks otherwise. 



214 CEREMONIES OF BAPTISM. 

The questions which the priest now puts to the candi- 
date, are taken from the ancient form of scrutiny, and are 
directed to ascertain the object had in view by him, which 
should be no other than his eternal salvation : " What dost 
thou ask of the church of God? Faith. What doth faith 
procure thee? Life everlasting." The questions con- 
cerning the renunciation of Satan, and all his works and 
pomps, and the belief in the Three Divine Persons, and in 
the Holy Catholic Church, were proposed in the ancient 
scrutinies in the precise terms used at this day.* They 
were repeated at each scrutiny, the better to test the sin- 
cerity and fixed resolution of the catechumen ; and the 
Apostolic symbol was likewise recited. 

The propriety of these questions when addressed to 
adults is obvious : but it surprises some, that they should 
be used in the case of infants, who cannot answer, or 
understand the reply made in their name by their sponsors. 
The reason of this practice is to preserve a correspondence 
in the rite of baptizing adults and infants, and to express 
the conditions on which baptism is imparted, so that on 
coming to the use of reason the child may learn at once his 
obligations and his privileges. " Not from perversity of 
will," says St. Augustin, "but from the incapacity of 
age, they can neither believe with the heart unto justice, 
nor confess with the mouth unto salvation. Therefore, 
when others answer for them, that the solemnity of the 
sacrament may be celebrated in their regard, it certainly 
serves to consecrate them, since they themselves cannot 
answer."! They are justly styled believers, because they, 
as it were, profess the faith, by the words of those who 

* Trombelli, t. i. de Bapt. diss. v. p. 244. 
f De Baptismo contra Donat. 1. iv. c. xxiv. 



CEREMONIES OF BAPTISM. 215 

present them."* The custom of using sponsors for this 
purpose is most ancient : and although they stood forward 
to vouch for the sincerity and fidelity of adult candi- 
dates, it is clear from Tertullian that they were also used 
in the baptism of infants. The responsibility which they 
contract, in answering for the infant, is among the reasons 
which he ofFers to induce the delay of baptism. 

The breathing thrice on the face of catechumens is an 
ancient rite mentioned by the first council of Constantino- 
ple.! It is likewise mentioned in a manuscript of above a 
thousand years antiquity.J It is accompanied by words 
w r hich attest the faith of the church, that all unbaptized 
persons are under the power of darkness, and that in bap- 
tism the Holy Spirit regenerates the soul unto life. "Go 
forth unclean spirit from her, and give place to the Holy 
Ghost the Paraclete. "§ St. Augustin speaks of the rite, 
and proves from it original sin against the Pelagians. 
He states, that " it is not since the rise of the pestilence 
of Manicheism, that it has become customary in the church 
of God, to exorcise infants and breathe on them, to show, 
by the mysteries themselves, that they cannot be transfer- 
red to the kingdom of Christ, unless they be delivered from 
the power of darkness. "|| Those who feel disposed to 
ridicule this significant rite, should remember its high an- 
tiquity, and its reference to the mysterious action whereby 
the mould of clay was first quickened into life, and to the 
breathing of our Lord on His Apostles, to express the com- 
munication of the Holy Ghost. 

* L. i. de pecc. merit, et remiss, c. xix. 

-j- Can. vii. 

t Cod. Bobiens. apud Mali Hon, Musxo Ital 1. i.pr&f. n. 8. p. 175. 

§ Roman Ritual. 

II L. ii. de nuptiis et concupiscentus, c. xxix. n. 50. 



S16 CEREMONIES or BAPTISM. 

The sign of die cross was also made on the forehead, 
aud on the breast, as appears from the ancient manuscript 

above referred to, and the rite was accompanied with these 
words : M Receive the sign of the cross on thy forehead, 
and on thy heart : be always faithful." In the sacramental 

work attributed to Tope Gelasius, to the last words these 

are substituted : M take the faith of the heavenly command- 
ments: and be such in thy morals that thou mayst he the 
temple of God*' 1 This is the form now used. St AugUS- 
tin, in several places, speaks of the catechumen as receiv- 
ing the sign of the cross in the rues preparatory for baptism : 
" he bears the cross of Christ already on his forehead, and 
he is not ashamed of the cross of the Lord."* M It was a 
noble tiling,' 1 observes Wall, " that they designed by this 
badge of the cross* h was to declare that they would not 
be ashamed of the CTOSS of Christ, never be abashed at the 
flouts o( the heathens, who objected to them that the per- 
son in whom they trusted as their Cod, had been executed 
for a malefactor : never be scandalized, if it came to be 
. fortune to suffer it theoiselves."t 
e imposition of hands with prayer was also used in 
the reception of catechumens, as we learn from St. AjigUS- 
tin : M Sanctification is not o\ one kind only, for I think 
that even the catechumens are in some measure sanctified 
by the sign of the cross and the prayer oi the imposition 
- Constantino was thus received into the num- 

umens.§ To tins corresponds the rite now 
performed, to signify that the candidate is devoted to Cod. 

* P«n : tL in . 

ptuniy p. ii cK i\- 

: ; . a, t.. 



CEREMONIES OF BAPTISM. 217 

The rite itself is familiar to all that have read the New 
Testament, and is adopted for far higher purposes in the 
sacraments of confirmation and holy orders. 

The blessing of the salt, and the words pronounced in 
giving it, are the same as in the sacramental book ascribed 
to Gregory the Great. * The ceremony naturally reminds 
us, that we are to be " the salt of the earth,"! by our wis- 
dom in Christ, and that our " speech should be always in 
grace, seasoned with salt."} 

The exorcisms, or adjurations of the demon, are of high 
antiquity, since their use was so firmly established through- 
out the whole church in the days of St. Augustin, that he 
proved thereby the ancient faith concerning original sin. 
He calls " the tradition of the church most ancient," " by 
which children are exorcised and breathed on, that being 
rescued from the power of darkness; that is, of the devil 
and his angels, they may be transferred to the kingdom of 
Christ. "§ Wall strangely mistakes the meaning of the 
exorcisms when he says : " The requiring these obligations 
of the baptized person, was called the exorcising him, or 
putting him to his oath."i| The reaching of the stole to 
the candidate, with an invitation to enter into the church, 
is an ancient rite, performed after several preparatory cere- 
monies, as the catechumen was led by the bishop, or priest, 
to the font. It is as expressive as it is simple. By bap- 
tism, those who were afar off, come near, and being admit- 
;ed into the church on earth, receive a title to the everlasting 
\ingdom. 

The recital of the Apostolic symbol and the Lord's 

* TrombelH, diss. vi. p. IS. f Matt v. 13. ol. iv. 6, 

i § L. ii. de ?uiptiis et toncup, c. 29. n. 31. 
i [) History of Infant Baptism, p. 11. ch. ix. §. ix. 

19 



218 CEREMONIES OF BAPTISM. 

prayer immediately follows. These were explained to the 
catechumens in the primitive church on distinct days, and 
were recited by them after a proper interval : the symbol 
in some places on holy Thursday, the Lord's prayer on 
holy Saturday.* The creed has been in use from a very 
early period of the church. St. Irenaeus seems to make 
reference to it :t as also Tertullian.J The marking of the 
ears and nostrils with saliva, and the pronouncing of the 
Syriac word: "Ephpheta," be thou opened, are spoken 
of by St. Ambrose, and their mystical signification explain- 
ed. Addressing the Neophytes, he says : " Open, then, 
your ears, and take the good odour of eternal life which you 
have inhaled through the sacraments, as we signified to 
you, when celebrating the mystery of the opening, we said 
to you : « Epheta, that is, be opened :' that each one coming 
forward to baptismal grace, might understand the questions 
put to him, and remember the answers which he should 
make. Christ celebrated this mystery, as we read in the 
gospel, when he cured the deaf and dumb man."§ The 
reference of the rite to the mysterious actions of our Re- 
deemer, in the cure of the deaf and dumb man, and of the 
blind men, whose eyes he touched with clay mixed with 
spittle, is sufficiently obvious. The pronouncing of the very 
word which fell from his divine lips, in the very language 
in which he uttered it, cannot but recall to our minds the 
miraculous cure of the deaf man, effected by it ; whilst 
it teaches us that our ears also are to be opened to the 
truths of eternal life. The marking of the nostrils " for 

* Trombelli, diss. vi. c. 1 1. torn. i. p. 300. 

f L. iii. c. 3, 4. 

ilj.de prescript, c. xiii. et de velandis virginibus, c. i. 

§ L. de mysteries, c. i. n. 3. 



CEREMONIES OF BAPTISM. 219 

an odour of sweetness," instructs us that we are to be 
drawn by divine grace to run after the odour of his oint- 
ments, and to become " the good odour of Christ,"* by our 
edifying conduct. God is represented as breathing into the 
nostrils of the first man the breath of life ; and holy Job 
expresses his determination to avoid sin to the end by say- 
ing: "As long as breath remaineth in me, and the Spirit 
of God in my nostrils, my lips shall not speak iniquity, 
neither shall my tongue contrive lying. "t 

The anointing of the breast and shoulders with oil, is a 
very ancient rite in the Roman church : the Greeks make 
the unction of the whole body. The book of sacraments, 
ascribed to St. Gregory the Great, makes mention of it, as 
well as several other Liturgical books of high authority 4 
St. Cyril, of Jerusalem, speaks of the unction of the whole 
body,§ and St. John Chrysostom observes, that the cate- 
chumen is anointed like the wrestlers before entering on 
the arena,|| that he may struggle successfully against his 
spiritual enemy. The Latin rite also has an apt significa- 
tion, that " in the unction of the breast and shoulder, the 
firmness of faith and perseverance in good works may be 
designated."^ The grace of the Holy Spirit is expressed 
in the Scriptures by unction : " his unction teacheth us of 
all things."** Anglican writers admit the antiquity of the 
rite.tt 

It was the custom at Rome for the catechumens to re- 

* 2 Cor. ii. 15. j- Job xxvii. 3 and 4. 

t Trombelli, diss. vi. torn. ii. p. 52. 
§ Catj ii. n. 2, 3. 

|| In c. ii. Epist. ad Coloss. horn. vi. n. 4, p. 369. torn. xi. ed. Mont* 
t Maxent Aquil. n. 7. par. ii. torn. ii. Anec. P. Bernardi Pez. 
** 1 John ii. 27. 

ff Wall, Hist. Infant Bapt. p. ii. ch. ix. n. 8. Pusey, Tract on 
Bapt. p. 125. 



220 CEREMONIES OF BAPTISM. 

peat the symbol from a high place. St. Augustin informs 
us of Victorinus, a celebrated Roman rhetorician, who, 
having become convinced of the truth of Christianity, for 
a time postponed the public profession of it, but at length, 
disregarding all human considerations, sought for baptism, 
and declining to avail himself of the indulgence offered 
him by the priests, to make his profession secretly, ascend- 
ed the platform, and there, in the presence of the faithful, 
recited aloud the Apostolic symbol, to the amazement of 
his pagan friends and admirers, and to the unspeakable 
edification and joy of all the faithful. " As he made his 
appearance on the rostrum, there was a suppressed expres- 
sion of joy, one whispering to another, Victorinus, Vic- 
torinus. Their exultation at seeing him was quickly 
manifested, and silence immediately ensued, through eager- 
ness to hear him. With admirable composure he pro- 
nounced the symbol of the true faith : and all eagerly de- 
sired to press him to their heart."* 

"Afterwards," says St. Cyril, addressing the Neophytes, 
" you were led to the holy font of baptism, as Christ from 
the cross to the sepulchre. And each of you was asked, 
if he believes in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost : and you made a saving confes- 
sion of faith, and you went down thrice into the water, 
and came up from it thrice : and then you enigmatically 
represented the burial of Christ during three days. At the 
same moment you died, and were born, and the saving 
water was at once your tomb, and your mother. ... O ! 
strange and wonderful event ! We did not die in ceality ; 
we were not really buried ; we did not undergo a real cru- 

* Conf. 1. viii. c. ii. 



CEREMONIES OF BAPTISM. 221 

cifixion, to rise again: but an image of these things was 
exhibited, and salvation was really imparted.' 5 * 

The catechumens, whether male or female, descended 
into the font without the least covering : " As soon as you 
entered," says St. Cyril, " you laid aside your mantle, 
which w r as a symbol of putting off the old man with his 
acts. You were stript, you were naked, imitating in this 
respect Christ exposed naked on the cross: who, by that ex- 
posure, stripped principalities and powers, and on the wood 
gloriously triumphed over them. Since the adverse powers 
lurked within your members, you can no longer wear that 
old garment : I mean not that which is seen, but the old 
man who is corrupted in deceitful desires. May it never 
be put on again by a soul that has once cast it away : but 
may she say, with the spouse of Christ, in the Canticle of 
Canticles : « I have put off my garment : how shall I put 
it on V O ! amazing thing ! you were naked in the sight of 
all, and you were not ashamed. Truly you bore the image 
of your first parent Adam, who was naked* and was not 
ashamed."! Although this rite has ceased with the use of 
immersion, it were rash to condemn what was once sanc- 
tioned by the practice of the church, as it would be unjust 
to judge generally of the usages of ancient times, by the 
standard of modern sentiment and feeling. 

As the Neophytes ascended from the font, they were re- 
ceived by their sponsors, who threw large white sheets 
around them. The bishop afterwards gave them a white 
garment, emblematic of the innocence which they had re- 
ceived in Christ, and bade them carry it without stain before 

* Cat. Myst. ii. n. 4. f Ibidem, n. 1. 

19* 



222 CEREMONIES OF BAPTISM. 

His tribunal.* The same address is still made, when the 
white cloth is laid on the head of the infant, or when the 
adult in solemn baptism is clothed in a white robe. 

St. Ambrose speaks of the white garments wherewith 
the Neophyte was clothed : " You received afterwards 
white robes in token of your having cast off the mantle of 
sin, and put on the chaste veil of innocence, of which the 
prophet said : ' Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and 
I shall be cleansed : thou shalt wash me, and I shall be 
made whiter than snow.' He that is baptized appears to 
be cleansed according to the law and the gospel : according 
to the law, since Moses with a bunch of hyssop made an 
aspersion of the blood of a lamb : according to the gospel, 
since the garments of Christ were white as snow, when 
He manifested the glory of his resurrection, in the gospel. 
He also whose sins are forgiven is whiter than snow : 
wherefore the Lord says by Isaiah : ' If your sins be red 
as scarlet, I will make you white as snow.' "t It is thought 
by some that the ceremony of laying a white cloth on the 
head, may have more direct reference to the chrismal 
bandage formerly used, through reverence of the chrism 
wherewith the crown of the head had been anointed.f 

The unction with sacred chrism on the crown of the 
head, immediately after baptism, is mentioned in several 
ancient Liturgical and Ritual books. The prayer which 
we use is found in an ancient Sacramentary of the Roman 
church. § It is also found, almost word for word, in the 

* Or do de Sal. S. apud Trombelli, diss. xvi. c. iii. See also Wall, 
History Infant Baptism, p. ii. ch. ix. 3. 7. f De Mysteriis, c. vii. 

t Ord. xiv. ex M. S. codic Gladbac. Monast. relat. a Martene, col. 
204. t. 1. 

§ III. Lib. Sac. Rom. Eccl. 1. i. §. 44, apud Thomasium, t. vi« 
Operum. 



CEREMONIES OF BAPTISM. 223 

work on the Sacraments, ascribed by some to St. Am- 
brose.* Tertulliari mentions the ceremony: "Having 
come forth from the laver, we are anointed with blessed 
unction, according to the ancient rite, whereby they were 
to be anointed for the priesthood by oil from a horn."t 
The anointing of the head signifies the wisdom which we 
have in Christ, who is to be our crown and happiness, as 
it is explained by St. Ambrose, from whom it appears that 
the unction flowed freely : " Consider what followed. 
Was not that done of which David spoke ? ' Like the oint- 
ment on the head, which ran down on the beard, the beard 
of Aaron.' Understand why this is done, because the eyes 
of a wise man are in his head : it flows down on the beard, 
for the sake of the young, on the beard of Aaron, that you 
may become a chosen, priestly precious race : for we are 
all anointed with the spiritual grace of the kingdom and 
priesthood of God."J 

Protestant writers for the most part confound the unc- 
tion after baptism with the rite which we call the sacrament 
of confirmation, and contend that this was originally no 
more than a ceremony annexed to baptism. It is certain 
that on many occasions the confirmatory unction was per- 
formed at that time, in order to perfect the Christian cha- 
racter: but its distinction from the mere rite of anointing 
the crown of the head, is apparent from the importance 
given it by St. Cyril, who compares it even with the 
Eucharist, and from its separation in many instances from 
baptism : wherefore it was customary for bishops to travel, 
in order to confirm those who had been baptized by priests 
or deacons. 

The light placed in the hand of the Neophyte is men- 

* L. ii. de Sacr. c. vii. j- De Bapt. n. 7. f De Myst. c. vi. 



224 CEREMONIES OP BAPTISM. 

tioned by St. Gregory of Nazianzum, and is explained of 
the light of faith and works, with which the soul is to pre- 
pare for meeting the heavenly spouse, like the wise vir- 
gins.* 

Thus all the rites which are used in the administration 
of baptism are full of signification, and are derived from 
venerable antiquity. Some of them, such as the interroga- 
tions, exorcisms, imposition of hands, signing with the 
cross, and unctions, may, without temerity, be considered 
of Apostolic origin. To censure them, would be to con- 
demn the whole Christian church in the earliest and brightest 
ages, and, indirectly at least, the Apostles themselves, to 
whom they may be fairly ascribed. 

* Orat. xl. p. 672. 



225 



EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 

BY ST. BASIL THE GREAT. 

The wise Solomon, distinguishing the times for the va- 
rious affairs of life, and assigning to each one what is suit- 
able, said : " There is a time for all, and a time for every 
thing ; a time to be born, and a time to die." But, making 
a slight change in the sentence of the wise man, in pro- 
claiming to you the saving Gospel, I say to you ; there is 
a time to die, and a time to be born. What reason is there 
for this inversion ? Solomon treating of birth and dissolu- 
tion, in conformity with the nature of bodies, spoke of birth 
before death, (for it is impossible to die without being 
born) : but as I am about to treat of spiritual regeneration,* 
I place death before life : since it is by dying to the flesh, 
that we come to be born in the Spirit ; as even the Lord 
says : " I will kill, and I will make to live." Let us then 
die, that we may live. Let us mortify the carnal feeling, 
which cannot be subject to the law of God, that a strong 
spiritual affection may arise in us, through which we may 
enjoy life and peace. Let us be buried together with 
Christ, who died for us, that we may arise again with Him, 
who proffers new life to us. For other matters there is a 
time peculiarly appropriate : a time for sleeping and for 
waking, a time for war and for peace : but the whole period 

* Baptism. The efficacy of this sacrament is clearly stated 
throughout this discourse. 



226 EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 

of man's life is the time for baptism.* For as the body 
cannot live unless it breathe : neither can the soul live un- 
less she know the Creator : for ignorance of God is death 
to the soul : and he that is not baptized, is not enlightened ; 
and without light neither can the eye perceive sensible ob- 
jects, nor the soul contemplate God.t All time, then, is 
opportune to receive salvation through baptism — night or 
day, hour or minute, even the least conceivable space of 
time. But it is just to regard as more suitable, the time 
which is more nearly connected with it: and what time 
is more closely connected with baptism than Easter day, 
since the day itself is a memorial of the resurrection, and 
baptism is the powerful means for our resurrection ?£ On 
resurrection day, then, let us receive the grace by which 
we rise again. On this account the Church with a loud 
voice calls from afar her catechumens, that as she already 
has conceived them, she may at length usher them into life, 
and weaning them from the milk of catechetical instruction, 
give them to taste of the solid food of her dogmas. John 
preached a baptism of penance, and all Judea went forth to 
him : the Lord proclaims a baptism whereby we are adopted 
as children ; and which of those who hope in Him, will 
refuse to obey his call ? That baptism was introductory : 
this is perfective : that separated from sin : this unites with 
God.§ The preaching of John was of one man, and he 

* Baptism can be received at any time i in infancy, throughout 
life, and at the point of death. 

f The necessity of baptism is strongly affirmed. 

t Easter Saturday, and Saturday before Pentecost were the special 
times of solemn baptism. 

§ The distinction and excellence of the baptism of Christ are 
plainly declared. 



EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 227 

drew all to penance : and thou, instructed by the prophets : 
"Wash yourselves: be clean:" — admonished by the 
Psalmist: "Come ye to Him, and be enlightened:" — 
having the joyful proclamation of the Apostles : "Do 
penance and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you 
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost :" — invited by the 
Lord Himself, who says : " Come to me all you that labour 
and are burdened, and I will refresh you :" (for all these 
passages have occurred in to-day's lesson) — thou, I say, 
tarriest, and hesitatest, and puttest off. Although instructed 
in the divine word from thy infancy, hast thou not yet 
yielded to truth ?* always learning, hast thou not yet at- 
tained unto knowledge ? through life an inquirer, a seeker 
even to old age, when wilt thou become a Christian ? when 
shall we recognize thee as our own ? Last year thou didst 
await the present time, and now again thou puttest off to a 
future season. Take care that thy promises extend not 
beyond the term of thy life. Thou knowest not what the 
morrow will bring forth. Do not make promises concern- 
ing things not subject to thy control. We call thee, O man, 

* In the latter part of the fourth century, when Paganism had lost 
its influence over the minds of men, many were favourably impressed 
with the truths of Christianity, without being entirely convinced of 
them, and frequented the Churches to receive instruction. Their 
children were presented by them at an early age for instruction, and 
their baptism nevertheless deferred, on account of the wavering state 
of mind of the parents, and the danger of their not being trained at 
home to the practice of religious duties. The same takes place in this 
country, where many parents for a long time frequent the Catholic 
Churches, and sometimes cause their children to receive instruction in 
the faith, long before either become members of the Church by bap- 
tism. 



228 EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 

to life : why dost thou shun the call ? We invite thee to 
partake of blessings : why dost thou disregard the gift? 
The kingdom of heaven lies open to thee : he that invites 
thee cannot deceive : the path is easy : there is no need of 
length of time, of expense, of toil: why dost thou delay ? 
why dost thou refuse? why dost thou fear the yoke, as a 
heifer that never has borne it? It is sweet: it is light: 
it does not hurt the neck ; but it ornaments it : it is not a 
yoke put on forcibly : it must be cheerfully assumed. Dost 
thou perceive that Ephraim is styled a wanton heifer, be- 
cause, spurning the yoke of the Law, she wanders far away ? 
Bend then thy stubborn neck : submit to the yoke of Christ, 
lest rejecting the yoke, and leading a loose life, thou be- 
come an easy prey to wild beasts. "O taste and see that 
the Lord is sweet." How shall I make those who know 
it not, sensible of the sweetness of honey? "Taste and 
see." Experience is more convincing than any reasoning. 
The Jew does not delay circumcision, being mindful of the 
threat, that "every soul that is not circumcised on the 
eighth day, shall be destroyed out of her people :" and thou 
delayest the circumcision — not that which is made by hands, 
in the stripping of the flesh, but that which is accomplished 
in baptism, whilst thou hearest the Lord Himself: " Amen, 
amen, I say to you, unless a man be born of water and the 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." And in 
that ceremony pain was endured, and an ulcer was caused : 
but in this the soul is refreshed with heavenly dew, and 
the ulcers of the heart are healed. Dost thou adore Him 
who died for thee ? Suffer then thyself to be buried with 
him by baptism. Unless thou be planted together with 
him in the likeness of his death, how wilt thou become 
partner in his resurrection ? Israel was baptized in Moses 



EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 229 

in the cloud, and in the sea, presenting therein types for 
thy instruction, and sensibly exhibiting the truth which was 
to be shown in the latter days : and thou shunnest baptism, 
not as typified in the sea, but really perfected : not in the 
cloud, but in the Spirit : not in Moses, a fellow-servant, but 
in Christ, our Creator. Had not Israel passed the sea, he 
would not have escaped Pharao ; and if thou pass not 
through the water, thou wilt not be delivered from the sad 
tyranny of the devil. Israel would not have drunk of the 
spiritual rock, had he not been typically baptized : nor will 
any give thee true drink, unless thou be truly baptized. 
He ate the bread of angels after baptism ; and how wilt 
thou eat the living bread, unless thou receive baptism pre- 
viously ? He entered into the land of promise, on account 
of his baptism : how canst thou enter into paradise, if thou 
be not sealed by baptism ? Dost thou not know, that an 
angel with a flaming sword is placed to guard the way to 
the tree of life — an awful and burning sword for unbelievers; 
but easily approached, and shining with mild radiance to 
believers ? For according to the will of the Lord it turns : 
and its glittering side is presented to the faithful : its burn- 
ing edge to the unsealed. 

| Elias was not terrified at the sight of the chariot of fire, 

1 and the fiery steeds approaching him : but eager to ascend 
on high, he dared to mount the awful seat; and whilst yet 
in mortal flesh, he joyfully took the reins, to guide the 
flaming chariot : whilst thou hesitatest, not to mount a fiery 

( vehicle, but to ascend into heaven through water and Spirit. 

! Why not rather run to obey the call ? Elias showed the 
power of baptism on the altar of holocausts, having con- 

| sumed the victim, not by fire, but by water: although the 
nature of fire is most opposed to water. When the water, 

20 



230 EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 

with mysterious significance, was for the third time poured 
out on the altar, the fire began, and it blazed up as if fed by 
oil. " And he said : Fill four buckets with water, and pour 
it upon the burnt offering, and upon the wood. And again 
he said: Do the same the second time. And when they 
had done it the second time, he said : Do the same also the 
third time : and they did so the third time." The Scrip- 
ture hereby shows, that through baptism, he that ap- 
proaches to God, is admitted into his household ; and that 
a pure and heavenly light, through faith in the Trinity, 
shines forth in the souls of those who approach Him. If I 
were distributing the gold of the Church, thou wouldst not 
say to me : "I shall come to-morrow, and to-morrow thou 
wilt give me some :" but at the present time, thou wouldst 
press for thy portion, and unwillingly bear to be put off. 
Now that the munificent Lord offers thee, not coloured 
earth, but purity of soul, thou framest excuses, thou num- 
berest over many causes of delay, instead of running to re- 
ceive the gift, O ! strange thing ! thou mayest be reno- 
vated without being put in the crucible : thou mayest be 
formed anew, without being broken in pieces : thou mayest 
be healed without suffering pain : and still thou dost not 
value the favor. If thou wast the servant of men, and free- 
dom were offered to slaves, wouldst thou not hasten at the 
appointed time, and engage advocates, and implore the 
judges, that by every possible means thy freedom should 
be obtained ? Yea, thou wouldst submit willingly to the 
blow given for the last time,* that thou mightst thencefor- 
ward be free from stripes. Now the divine herald calls 
thee to freedom, slave as thou art, not of men, but of sin; 

* lu manumitting slaves, a blow on the back was given with a rod, 
and a slap on the face. 



EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 231 

that he may free thee from bondage, and make thee a fel- 
low citizen of the Angels, and even, by grace, an adopted 
child of God, heir of the blessings of Christ: yet thou al- 
legest that thou hast not time to receive these gifts. O ! 
wretched impediments ! base and endless occupations ! 
How long, then, must pleasures be sought after? How long 
. must passion be indulged? We surely have lived long 
enough for the world : let us live henceforth for ourselves. 
What is equal in value to our soul? What can be compared 
with the kingdom of heaven ? What adviser should be lis- 
tened to in preference to God ? Who is more prudent than 
the All-wise ? Who is more useful than He, who alone 
is good? Who is nearer to us than our Creator? Eve 
gained nothing by hearkening to the suggestions of the ser- 
pent, rather than to the command of God. O ! senseless 
words ! I have not time to get cured : let me not yet see 
. the light: do not yet present me to the King. Dost thou 
. not speak plainly to this effect, nay, still more absurdly ? 
. If thou wert loaded with debts to the treasury, and a reduc- 
i tion of the claim were offered to the public creditors, and 
.; some one should maliciously attempt to deprive thee of the 
, benefit proffered to all, thou wouldst be angry with him, 
and exclaim against him as interfering with thy right to a 
share of the general indulgence. And now that not only 
the pardon of past debts, but gifts for the time to come are 
proclaimed, thou dost thyself an injury which no enemy of 
thine could inflict, and imaginest that thou hast suitably 
provided for thyself, and adopted wise measures, by neglect- 
ing to accept forgiveness, and continuing unto death laden 
with sins. Yet thou knowest that even he who owed ten 
thousand talents, would have been entirely forgiven, had 
he not provoked the severity of his creditor by his inhu- 



232 EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 

manity towards his fellow-servant. We must also take 
care, that the same happen not to us, if, after obtaining 
grace, we pardon not our debtors ; which is required of us 
that the gift bestowed, may be perpetually preserved. 

Enter into the recesses of thy conscience : refresh thy 
memory. If thy sins be numerous, do not despair on ac- 
count of their multitude: for where sin hath abounded, 
grace will abound more, if thou wilt but accept grace: to 
him who owes much, much also will be forgiven, that he 
may love the more. But if thy faults be trivial and venial, 
and not to the death of thy soul, why art thou anxious 
about what may befall thee hereafter, whilst thou hast 
hitherto lived without reproach, although thou wert not as 
yet instructed in the law of Christ?* Consider thy soul as 
now placed in a scale, drawn to one side by the angels, to 
the other by demons. To which of them wilt thou give 
the affections of thy heart? What shall prevail with thee? 
the pleasures of the flesh, or the sanctification of the Spirit ? 
present enjoyment, or the desire of future happiness ? 
Shall the angels receive thee ; or shall those who hold thee 
now, continue to hold thee fast? When preparing for battle 
the generals give a watchword to the soldiers, that they 
may the more easily call on one another for assistance, and 
recognize one another, should they be mixed up with others 
in the conflict. No one can know whether thou belongest 
to us, or to our adversaries, if thou manifest not thy bro- 
therhood by mystic signs, if the light of the countenance 
of the Lord be not signed upon thee. How can the angel 
claim thee ? how can he rescue thee from the enemy, un- 

* St. Basil here addresses the man who asserts the past purity of 
his morals, and yet fears his life after baptism may not correspond 
with the perfection of the Christian law. 



EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 233 

less he recognize the seal ? how slialt thou say : * I am of 
God:' if thou bear not the mark? Dost thou not know 
that the destroying angel passed by the houses that were 
marked with blood, whilst he slew the first born in those 
that were not marked ? A treasure unsealed is easily laid 
hold of by robbers ; a sheep without a mark is carried 
away with impunity. 

Art thou young? secure thy youth against vice, by the 
restraint which baptism imposes. Has the vigor of life 
passed away ? Do not neglect the necessary provision for 
thy journey : do not lose thy protection : do not consider 
the eleventh hour, as if it were the first; since it even be- 
hoves him who is beginning life, to have death before his 
eyes. If a physician should promise thee, by certain arts 
and devices, to change thee from an old to a young man, 
wouldst thou not eagerly desire the day to arrive on which 
thou wouldst find thy youthful vigor restored? Neverthe- 
less, whilst baptism promises to restore to her pristine vigor 
thy soul, which thy iniquities have brought to decrepitude, 
and covered with wrinkles and defilements, thou despisest 
thy benefactor, instead of hastening to receive the proffered 
boon. Art thou without any solicitude to witness the miracu- 
lous change which is promised — how one grown old, and 
wasted away by corrupting passions, can bud forth anew, 
and blossom, and attain to the true bloom of youth ? Bap- 
tism is the ransom of captives, the remission of debts, the 
death of sin, the regeneration of the soul, the robe of light, 
the seal which cannot be broken, the chariot to heaven, the 
means to attain the kingdom, the gift of adoption. Dost 
thou think that pleasure is preferable to these and such like 
blessings? I know the cause of thy delay, although thou 
cloakest it with various pretexts. The things themselves 

20* 



234 EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 

cry out, although thou art silent. ' Suffer me to use the 
flesh for shameful enjoyments, to wallow in the mire of 
pleasures, to imbrue my hands in blood, to plunder the pro- 
perty of others, to act deceitfully, to perjure, to lie; and 
then I shall receive baptism, when I shall cease from sin.' 
If sin be good, persevere in it to the end : if it be hurtful 
to the sinner, why dost thou continue in pernicious pur- 
suits ? No one that wishes to get rid of bile, should increase 
it by hurtful and intemperate indulgence : for the body 
must be cleared of what injures it, and nothing done to in- 
crease the power of disease. A ship keeps above water 
as long as it can bear the weight of its cargo : when over- 
loaded it sinks.* Thou shouldst dread lest the like befall 
thee, and that thy sins being exceedingly great, thou suffer 
shipwreck, before thou reach the hoped for haven. Does 
not God see all that is done ? Does He not perceive thy 
secret thoughts ? or does He co-operate in thy iniquities ? 
" Thou thoughtest unjustly," He says, " that I shall be 
like to thee." When thou seekest the friendship of a 
mortal man, thou enticest him by kind offices, saying and 
doing such things as thou knowest will please him : but 
wishing to be united with God, and hoping to be adopted 
as a son, whilst thou dost things hateful to God, and dis- 
honorest Him by the transgression of His law, dost thou 
imagine to obtain His friendship by the things which are 
particularly offensive to Him ? Take care, lest multiplying 
evils in the hope of being ransomed, thou increase sin, and 
miss pardon. ' God is not mocked !' Do not traffic away 
grace. Pleasure is the devil's hook, dragging us to ruin : 
pleasure is the mother of sin : and sin is the centre of 
death. Pleasure is the food of the everlasting worm ; for 



EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 235 

a while its enjoyment delights : but its fruits are more bit- 
ter than gall. Delay is equivalent to saying : ' Let sin 
iirst reign in me : afterwards the Lord shall reign. I will 
yield my members as instruments of iniquity unto sin : 
afterwards I shall present them as instruments of justice 
unto God.' Thus also Cain offered up sacrifices, reserv- 
ing the best things for his own enjoyment, and giving those 
of an inferior kind to God, the Creator and Benefactor. 
Because thou art strong, thou wastest away thy youth in 
sin. When thy limbs shall be worn out, then thou wilt offer 
them to God, because thou canst no longer use them, but 
must lie by, their vigor being destroyed by inveterate dis- 
ease. Continence in old age is not strictly continence, but 
incapacity of indulgence. A dead man is not crowned : 
no man is just merely because unable to commit wrong. 
Whilst thou hast strength, subject sin to reason: for virtue 
consists in this, to decline from evil and do good. Mere 
cessation from evil of itself is worthy neither of praise nor 
of censure. If, on account of advanced age, thou cease 
to do evil, it is the consequence of infirmity. We praise 
such as are good from choice, and such as necessity with- 
draws from sin. Moreover, who has marked out for thee 
the limit of life ? who has defined for thee the length of 
old age? who is the surety on which thou reliest for what 
is to befall thee ? Dost thou not see infants snatched away, 
and others in the age of manhood carried off? Life has no 
fixed boundary. Why dost thou await that baptism should 
be for thee as a gift brought by a fever ? Wilt thou wait 
until thou shalt not be able to utter the saving words, 
and scarcely to hear them distinctly, thy malady having its 
seat in thy head ? Thou wilt not be able to raise thy hands 
to heaven, or to stand on thy feet, or to bend thy knee in 



236 EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 

adoration, or to receive suitable instruction, or to confess 
accurately, or to enter into covenant with God, or to re- 
nounce the enemy ; probably not even to follow the sacred 
minister in the mystic rites ; so that the by-standers may 
doubt whether thou perceivest the grace, or art unconscious 
of what is done, and if even thou receivest the grace, with 
consciousness, thou hast but the talent, without the in- 
crease. 

Imitate the eunuch. He found an instructor on the road, 
and he did not spurn instruction ; but although he was a 
rich man, he caused the poor man to mount into his chariot : 
a grand and splendid courtier placed at his side a private 
individual, on whom others would look with contempt: 
and when he had learned the gospel of the kingdom, he 
embraced the faith with his heart, and did not delay to re- 
ceive the seal of the Spirit. For when they drew nigh to 
a stream, 'behold,' he says, 'here is water:' thus show- 
ing his great joy : behold what is required : what prevents 
me from being baptized ? Where the will is ready, there is 
no obstacle : for He that calls us, loves mankind, the min- 
ister is at hand, and the grace is abundant. Let the desire 
be sincere, and every obstacle will vanish. There is only 
one to hinder us, he who blocks up the path of salvation, 
but whom by prudence we can overcome. He causes us 
to tarry: let us rise to the work: he deludes us by vain 
promises : let us not be ignorant of his devices. For does 
he not suggest to commit sin to-day, and persuade us to 
defer justice till the morrow? Wherefore the Lord, to de- 
feat his perverse suggestions, says to us : ' To-day, if you 
hear my voice.' He says : to-day for me : to-morrow for 
God. The Lord cries out : ' To-day hear my voice.' 
mark the enemy : he does not dare counsel us utterly to 



EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 237 

abandon God, (for he knows that this were shocking to 
Christians,) •• but by fraudulent stratagems he attempts to 
effect his purpose. He is cunning in evil doing : he per- 
ceives that we live for the present time, and all our actions 
regard it. Stealing from us, then, artfully to-day, he leaves 
us to hope for to-morrow. Then when the morrow comes, 
the wicked distributer of time appears again, claiming the 
day for himself, and leaving the morrow to the Lord : and 
thus perpetually, by using the bait of pleasure to secure 
for himself the present time, and proposing the future to 
our hopes, he takes us out of life by surprise. 

I once witnessed a stratagem of a bird. Her young 
ones being easy to be taken, she threw herself before them, 
as a ready prey to the fowlers, and fluttering in view of 
them, she neither could be caught, nor yet did she leave 
them without hope of catching her : and having in various 
ways deluded their expectations, keeping them intent on 
her, and afforded to her young ones the chance of flight, 
at length she herself flew away. Fear lest thou also be 
deceived in like manner, since thou preferrest uncertain 
hope to the certain opportunity of present good. Come, 
then, at once, to me : devote thyself entirely to the Lord : 
give in thy name : be enrolled in the list of the church. 
The soldier's name is enrolled : the champion enters on 
the combat, after his name has been inscribed on the lists : 
a naturalized citizen is registered on the city books. By 
all these titles thou art bound to give in thy name, as a 
soldier of Christ, a champion of piety, and one who as- 
pires to citizenship in heaven. Have it inscribed on this 
book, that it may be inscribed above. Learn, be instructed 

* St. Basil applies the term here to catechumens, persons professing 
taith in Christ, but not yet baptized. 



238 EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 

in the evangelical discipline, — restraint of the eyes, gov- 
ernment of the tongue, the subduing of the body, lowli- 
ness of mind, purity of heart, annihilation of pride. When 
constrained to do any thing, add cheerfully something to 
what is exacted : when despoiled of thy property, do not 
have recourse to litigation : repay hatred by love : when 
persecuted, forbear : when insulted, entreat. Be dead to 
sin : be crucified together with Christ : fix thy w r hole affec- 
tion on the Lord. But these things are difficult: what 
good thing is easy ? Who ever raised a trophy whilst asleep: 
who ever, whilst indulging in luxury and music, was 
adorned with the crowns of valor? No one, without run- 
ning, can gain the prize : brave struggles merit glory : 
combats win crowns. "Through many tribulations we 
must enter into the kingdom of heaven :" but the beatitude 
of the heavenly kingdom succeeds these tribulations : 
whilst the pain and sorrow of hell follow the labors of sin. 
If any one consider it attentively, he will find that not even 
the works of the devil are performed by the workers of 
iniquity without toil. What exertion does continence re- 
quire ? The voluptuous man, on the contrary, is exhausted 
by indulgence. Does continence diminish our strength in 
a like degree as detestable and unbridled passion wastes it 
away ? Sleepless nights are, indeed, passed by those who 
devote themselves to vigils and prayers ; but how much 
more wearisome are the nights of such as are wakeful for 
iniquity ? The fear of detection, and the anxiety for in- 
dulgence, utterly take away all rest. If, fleeing the narrow 
path which leads to salvation, thou pursue the broad way 
of sin, I fear lest continuing on it to the end, thou come to 
an inn suitable to the road. 



EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 239 

But thou wilt say : the treasure is hard to be guarded.* 
Be vigilant, then, brother : thou hast aids, if thou wilt — 
prayer as a night sentinel — fasting a house guard — psalmo- 
dy a guide of thy soul. Take these along with thee : they 
will keep watch with thee, to guard thy precious treasures. 
Tell me, which is it better to be rich, and anxiously to 
guard our wealth, or not to have any thing to preserve ? 
No one, through fear of being despoiled of his property, 
abandons it altogether. If men in each of their pursuits 
considered the misfortunes that may ensue, all human en- 
terprise would cease. Agriculture is liable to the failure 
of the crops : shipwreck may defeat commerce : widow- 
hood may soon follow marriage : orphanage may prevent 
the education of children. We, however, embark in each 
undertaking, cherishing the fairest hopes, and committing 
the realizing of them to God, who regulates all things. 
But thou professest to venerate holiness, whilst in reality 
thou continuest among the reprobate. See, lest thou here- 
after repent of evil counsels, when thy repentance may be 
of no avail. Let the example of the virgins serve as an 
admonition. Not having oil in their lamps, when they 
had to enter with the bridegroom into the nuptial chamber, 
they perceived that they were without the necessary pro- 
vision : wherefore the Scripture styled them foolish, be- 
cause, in going about to purchase, having spent the time in 
which the oil was wanted, they were, contrary to their ex- 
pectations, shut out from the wedding. Take care, lest 
putting off from year to year, from month to month, from 
day to day, and not taking with thee oil to nourish thy 
lamp, the day at length arrive to which thou dost not look 

* The dread of losing baptismal grace induced many to delay being 
baptized. 



240 EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 

forward, when it will be impossible to live any longer. 
There will be distress on all sides, and inconsolable afflic- 
tion, the physicians having tried every remedy to no pur- 
pose, and thy friends having lost hope. Thy breathing 
will be dry and difficult : a violent fever will burn and in- 
flame thy interior : thou wilt heave deep sighs, and find no 
sympathy. Thou wilt utter something in low and feeble 
accents, and no one will hear thee : every thing uttered by 
thee will be considered raving. Who will give thee bap- 
tism then ? Who will remind thee of it, when thou wilt be 
plunged in deep lethargy ? Thy relatives are disheartened : 
strangers care not ; the friend hesitates to remind thee, 
fearing to disturb thee : or perhaps even the physician 
deceives thee, and thou hast not lost hope, being deceived 
by the natural love of life. It is night, and there is no 
attendant at hand : there is no one to baptize thee. Death 
is impending : the demons seek to carry thee off. Who 
will rescue thee ? God, whom thou hast spurned? But He 
will hear thee : forsooth thou now dost hearken to Him ! 
Will He give thee a respite ? thou hast made so good use 
of the time already given thee ! 

Let no one deceive himself by vain words : for sudden 
destruction will rush upon thee, and a storm of vengeance 
will overwhelm thee. The angel sorrowful will come, and 
will force and drag away precipitately thy soul, bound fast 
in sin, attached strongly to the things of life, and mourn- 
ing without power of utterance, the organ of lamentation 
being closed. O ! how thou wilt be ready to tear thyself 
in pieces ! how thou wilt sigh ! In vain thon wilt repent 
for thy omissions, in compliance with evil suggestions, 
when thou shalt see the joy of the just, at the splendid dis- 
tribution of divine gifts, and the sorrow of sinners in pro- 



EXHORTATION TO BAPTISM. 241 

found darkness. What wilt thou say, then, in the anguish 
of thy heart I Alas ! that I have neglected to cast away 
this heavy load of sin, when it was so easy to rid myself 
of it, and that I have drawn down on me this weight of 
woes ! Alas ! that I washed not away my stains, but re- 
mained defiled by sin ! I should have been now with the 
angels of God! I should have been enjoying the delights 
of heaven. O ! perverse counsels. For the temporary 
joy of sin, I am tormented for eternity ! for the pleasure 
of the flesh, I am delivered over to fire ! The judgment of 
God is just. I was called ; and did not obey : I was in- 
structed ; and I did not pay attention : they besought me ; 
and I scoffed at them. Such are the reflections thou wilt 
make, bewailing thy lot, if thou be snatched away without 
baptism. ! man, either fear hell, or aim at the kingdom: 
do not disregard the call. Do not say: Hold me excused, 
for this or that reason. There can be no semblance of 
excuse. I am moved to tears, when I reflect that thou 
preferrest shameful actions to the great glory of God : and 
clinging to sin, thou deprivest thyself of the promised . 
blessings, so that thou mayst not see the good things of 
the heavenly Jerusalem. There are myriads of angels, 
the church of the first born, the thrones of Apostles, the 
chairs of prophets, the sceptres of patriarchs, the crowns 
of martyrs, the choirs of just. Conceive the desire to be 
enrolled with them, being washed, and sanctified by the 
gift of Christ : to whom be glory and power for endless 
ages. Amen." 



21 



TREATISE ON CONFIRMATION. 



CHAPTER I. 



DIVINE INSTITUTION. 



The Catholic Church holds that confirmation is a real 
and proper sacrament, of which the Bishop is the ordinary 
minister ; and she anathematizes whosoever says, that to 
ascribe any virtue to the sacred chrism of Confirmation, is 
to offer an insult to the Holy Ghost.* Most modern sects 
entirely reject this sacrament. The Mormons pretend that 
by the imposition of hands miraculous powers are given 
among them. Calvin endeavored to account for the solemn 
rite of the ancient Church, which he could not deny, by 
saying that it was no more than a catechetical exercise, it 
having been thought expedient to require youth to make a 
profession of the faith to which they were bound by bap- 
tism, and to dismiss them with the episcopal blessing, by 
the laying on of hands. t Anglicans have a rite which they 
call confirmation, and which is suited to this theory of 
Calvin ; although some of the prayers, with some additions 
and subtractions, are taken from the Roman Pontifical. 

* See Council of Trent, Sess. vii. can. de confirm. 
\ Inst. 1. iv. c. xix. n. 4. 



244 DIVINE INSTITUTION. 

Several of their divines speak of confirmation after the man- 
ner of Catholics. " Confirmation," says Bishop Wilson, 
" is the perfection of baptism. The Holy Ghost descends 
invisibly upon such as are rightly prepared to receive such 
a blessing, as at the first He came visibly upon those that 
had been baptized."* The Oxford divines maintain that 
spiritual benefits are conveyed by confirmation, and con- 
sider that the ancient tradition of the Church is not dis- 
carded, although not explicitly declared by their com- 
munion.! In the dictionary of the Church, published by 
Rev. William Staunton, confirmation, although not styled a 
Sacrament, is declared to be a divine appointment, and to 
have been practised by the Apostles, and to be binding on 
Christians ; and its effects are said to have been described 
by the Apostle, when he speaks to the faithful of "being 
established in Christ," being anointed and sealed with the 
Holy Spirit of promise, and having "an earnest of the 
Spirit in their hearts." " And that all these expressions re- 
fer to confirmation is evident, as well from comparing them 
together, as from the concurrent testimonies of several an- 
cient Fathers. "J Such is the strong language of this 
American divine, but which can by no means be considered 
as expressing the general sentiments of Episcopalians, 
among whom the Calvinistic view widely prevails. 

The Baptists, in their confession of faith, say : " We be- 
lieve that laying on of hands, with prayer, upon baptized 
believers, as such, is an ordinance of Christ, and ought to 

* Bishop Wilson's Meditations on his sacred office, cited in Oxford 
Tracts, vol. i. No. 62. 

f Tracts, vol. iv. No. 81. 

t Dictionary of the Church, by Rev. Wm. Staunton. New York, 
1839. Art. Confirmation. 



DIVINE INSTITUTION. 245 

be submitted unto by all such persons that are admitted to 
partake of the Lord's Supper, and that the end of this ordi- 
nance is not for the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, but for 
a farther reception of the Holy Spirit of promise, or for the 
addition of the graces of the Spirit, and the influences 
thereof; to confirm, strengthen, and comfort them in Christ 
Jesus ; it being ratified and established by the extraordi- 
nary gifts of the Spirit in the primitive times."* Their 
predecessors were greatly divided on this point : " They 
differ among themselves," says Wall, " about the practice 
of confirmation, or laying on of hands after baptism. Some 
of 'em do wholly omit and reject the use of that ordinance, 
as being popish, or having no foundation in Scripture, or 
at least not now to be continued. And this it seems was 
the way of those churches or societies of 'em that did first 
openly set up at London. Others of 'em account it a neces- 
sary thing. And some of these latter, making it an order 
among themselves, as the Church of England does, that 
none shall be admitted to the Holy Communion, until such 
time as he be confirmed (the Church of England adds, ' or 
be ready and desirous to be confirmed') there necessarily 
follows a breach of communion between the two parties. "t 
The conversion of the inhabitants of Samaria by the 
preaching and miracles of Philip, gave joy to the Apostles 
then at Jerusalem, and gave occasion to the visit of Peter 
and John, to confirm them in the faith. They went to Sa- 
maria, and " prayed for them that they might receive the 
Holy Ghost : for He was not as yet come upon any of 
them ; but they were only baptized in the name of the 
Lord Jesus. "± This prayer, accompanied by the imposi- 

* ch. xx\i. j- Wall, Hist. Inf. Bap. p. ii. ch. viii. n. 15. 

± Acts viii. 15. 

21* 



246 DIVINE INSTITUTION. 

tion of hands, obtained for the new Christians the Holy 
Ghost : of whose presence such evidence was afforded, that 
Simon the Magician, who had been brought to the faith by 
Philip, offered money to the Apostles, that he might be en- 
dowed, like them, with power to communicate the Holy 
Spirit. It is believed by the Catholic Church that the rite 
performed by the Apostles is a sacrament instituted by 
Christ, and always to continue in the Church, so that the 
Holy Ghost is still imparted by means of the imposition of 
hands and prayer. This sacrament is called confirmation, 
because the Holy Spirit confirms and strengthens us in 
faith, that we may firmly believe, and profess our belief in- 
trepidly. 

Of the institution of this sacrament by our divine Re- 
deemer, direct proof cannot be given, but the indirect evi- 
dence is perfectly satisfactory. From the narrative of St. 
Luke it is manifest, that Peter and John expressly under- 
took the journey to Samaria, with a view to impart the 
Holy Ghost to the new converts ; and that, to this end, 
they imposed hands on them, and offered up prayer ; and 
that the actual communication of the Holy Ghost ensued. 
The inference is irresistible, that they were empowered to 
communicate the Holy Ghost by this rite ; and that those 
admitted into the Church by baptism needed this additional 
grace. As it is the privilege of the Divine Founder of our 
religion to attach grace to external rites, we must suppose 
that the Apostles acted by His express authority ; and the 
want of direct proof of the commission to perform this 
special act, is abundantly supplied by the record of the act 
done by those who would usurp no undue power, and by 
the miraculous sanction that accompanied it. That it was 
an ordinary act of the Apostolic ministry, is evident from 



DIVINE INSTITUTION. 247 

the solicitude which St. Paul manifested, that all the faith- 
ful should be strengthened by this divine succour. When 
he came to Ephesus, and found there certain disciples, he 
made special inquiry whether they had received the Holy 
Ghost: " Have you received the Holy Ghost since you 
believed ?"* After their instruction and baptism, for he 
discovered that they had previously received only the bap- 
tism of John, he performed on them the same sacred rite 
which Peter and John had performed on the Samaritans : 
"And when Paul had imposed his hands on them, the 
Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spoke with tongues, 
and prophesied."! This imposition of hands was, then, a 
rite performed by the Apostles indiscriminately, and to 
which the communication of the Holy Ghost was attached. 
The speaking of tongues and prophesying were not the 
effects of the rite, but the evidences of its efficacy, and 
were so many seals which God gave to this institution. 
The Holy Ghost is given when grace is imparted by which 
the soul is sanctified, for then it is that the Spirit of God 
dwells in us. " The charity of God is poured forth in 
our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us. "J 

An attempt is made to show that the gifts communicated 
by the Apostles, were of an extraordinary character, and 
confined to the commencement of the church. Prophecy, 
the knowledge of tongues, and other miraculous gifts, are 
said to have been granted by the imposition of the hands of 
the Apostles. It will, however, be easily shown that these 
gifts were not the object to which the imposition of hands 
was directed ; but the proof that the action was not per- 
formed in vain. Philip had already performed great mira- 

* Acts xix. 2. j- Ibidem 6 t Rom. v. 5. 



248 DIVINE INSTITUTION. 

cles in Samaria, so that it was not necessary to communi- 
cate miraculous powers to prove the Divinity of Christ, and 
the truth of His religion. Besides, among the promises of 
Christ, which foretell the many prodigies which His disci- 
ples would perform in His name, and among the powers 
communicated to the Apostles, no mention whatever is made 
of the power of communicating the gift of miracles. A 
journey made by the Apostles Peter and John must cer- 
tainly have been made with a view to the sanctification and 
spiritual strength of the new converts, rather than to the en- 
dowing of them with miraculous powers. The inquiry of 
St. Paul cannot be supposed to be : Have you received the 
gift of miracles? He doubtless was concerned for their 
personal sanctification. The gifts of tongues and prophecy 
which they received on that occasion, were superadded to 
the sacramental grace, that this might be the more firmly 
believed. As such miraculous evidences often followed the 
preaching of the Gospel, and attested its truth; so they oc- 
casionally accompanied the administration of the sacra- 
ments, to show forth their efficacy. The communication 
of them was the immediate act of God, totally independent 
of any ministerial agency. By the ministry of men God 
imparts the gifts of grace in the sacraments ; but He has 
reserved to Himself to bestow these extraordinary powers, 
which are occasionally exercised, in proof of his supreme 
control over the laws of nature, and as the divine seals of 
his revelation and institutions. " There are diversities of 
operations, but the same God who worketh all in all .... 
All these things the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every 
one according as He will."* This is strongly stated by 
the writers of the Oxford Tracts : " When the doctrine of 
* 1 Cor. xii. 6. 11. 



DIVINE INSTITUTION. 249 

the Holy Ghost, and of His inward influence, was new to 
the world, it pleased God to confirm it, and to show that 
the influence was real, by permitting, in some cases, those 
on whom it descended, to perform works which they could 
not have done, had not God been with them. Thus, the 
real importance, even then, of these miraculous gifts, con- 
sisted in their bearing witness to the inward and unseen 
ones which God still showers upon His Church" . . . "And 
which we dare not suppose to have ceased, merely because 
the outward signs of them did, when God Himself had pro- 
mised that they should last for ever The promise of 

support to the Apostles, in the performance of their min- 
isterial duties, was equally perpetual : Christ was to be 
with them, as the teachers and baptizers of all nations, 
1 alway, even unto the end of the world.' The reality of 
their powers, and among others, their power of conferring 
the Holy Ghost on others, was attested at first by mira- 
cles."* 

The imposition of hands with prayer, therefore, was 
not directed to communicate the power of miracles, or any 
extraordinary gift, but the grace of the Holy Ghost, where- 
by the soul is sanctified and strengthened. By that grace 
we become in baptism the children of God : and by a fur- 
ther communication of it in this sacrament, we are con- 
firmed, that " neither death nor life, nor Angels, nor princi- 
palities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
nor might, nor height, nor death, nor any other creature 
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is 
in Christ Jesus our Lord."t To the faithful who had re- 
ceived this strengthening grace, the Apostle said : " you 
were signed with the holy Spirit of promise, who is the 
* Tracts, Vol. I. No. 30. f Rom. viii. 38 



250 DIVINE INSTITUTION. 

pledge of our inheritance."* Elsewhere he says : " God 
. . . hath given us the pledge of the Spirit."t St. Ambrose 
distinctly refers to this text in speaking of the seal of con- 
firmation given to the Neophytes : " Remember that you 
have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and 
understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit 
of knowledge and piety, the spirit of holy fear : and pre- 
serve what you have received. God the Father hath sealed 
you : Christ the Lord hath confirmed you : and hath given 
the pledge of the Spirit in your hearts, as you have learned 
from the lesson read from the Apostle. "J 

The early Christian writers understood Peter and John 
to have performed a rite directed to communicate the Holy 
Spirit, and intended to be perpetual in the Church, so that 
the bishops at all times felt authorized to perform it in like 
manner ; as is acknowledged by several Anglican writers. 
" The Fathers every where impute unto it that gift or grace 
of the Holy Ghost, not which maketh us first Christian 
men, but when we are made such, assistethus in all virtue, 
armeth us against temptation and sin."§ St. Cyprian ob- 
serves that the Apostles did not baptize the Samaritans 
anew, because it was not fit that they should be baptized 
again, since they had already received a lawful baptism in 
the Church ; but what was left imperfect was supplied, as 
was done by Peter and John, so that having prayed for 
them, and imposed hands on them, the Holy Ghost was 
invoked and poured forth on them : which is done at pre- 
sent with us also, since those who are baptized in the 
church are presented to the prelates of the church, and 
obtain the Holy Ghost by our prayer and imposition of 

* Eph. i. 13. f 2 Cor. v. 5. * De Myst. c. vii. n. 42. 

§ Hooker's Eccl. Polity, 1. v. p. 353. 



DIVINE INSTITUTION. 251 

hands, and are perfected by the seal of the Lord."* This 
practice of the whole Christian world is also solemnly at- 
tested by St. Jerom in his dialogue against the Luciferians. 
He introduces an adversary speaking in this way : "Do 
you know that it is the practice of the churches, that the 
imposition of hands should be performed over baptized 
persons, and the Holy Ghost thus invoked : do you ask 
where it is written ? In the Acts of the Apostles : but 
were there no Scriptural authority at hand, the consent of 
the whole world in this regard would have the force of 
law." The orthodox replies : " I do not deny that it is 
the custom of the churches, that the bishop should go to 
those who have been baptized by priests and deacons in the 
smaller cities, distant from his residence, and should im- 
pose hands on them to invoke the Holy Ghost."t This, 
then, was a custom which Catholics and schismatics ad- 
mitted to be universal, and to have a Scriptural warrant in 
what was practised by the Apostles. 

Of the unction with chrism, that is, with blessed oil 
mixed with balsam, no mention is made by the sacred his- 
torian, who merely relates the fact, that by the imposition 
of hands and prayer, the Holy Ghost was communicated, 
and does not enter into the details of the ceremony. " Of 
these two things," says Wall, " the chrism of anointing 
is not commanded in Scripture : yet it is still practised by 
all the Christians of the East and West, except the Pro- 
testants. But the laying on of hands is plainly mentioned 
in the Scripture, Acts viii. 17. Heb. vi. 2, and is yet con- 
tinued by all Christians, except some very absurd people.";); 
( St. Paul speaks of the unction which he and the faithful 

* S. Cypr. Ep. 73. ad Jubajanum. f S. Hier. Dial. adv. Lucifer. 
+ Wall, Hist, of Infant Baptism, p. ii. ch. ix. § 8. 



i 



252 DIVINE INSTITUTION. 

generally had received from God, and which there is no 
reason to limit to the interior influence of the Divine Spirit, 
of which the external unction is emblematic ; " Now He 
that confirmeth us with you in Christ, and that hath anoint- 
ed us, is God : who also hath sealed us, and given the 
pledge of the Spirit in our hearts."* 

The antiquity and universality of the practice of anoint- 
ing with chrism, in the administration of this sacrament, 
and the importance attached to this rite by the ancient 
writers, warrant the belief that it was practised by the 
Apostles. Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, in the second 
century, writes : " We are called Christians, because we 
are anointed with the oil of God."t Tertullian says : 
" The flesh is anointed, that the soul may be consecrated : 
the flesh is marked, that the soul may be fortified : the flesh 
is overshadowed by the imposition of hands, that the soul 
may be enlightened with the Spirit."J St. Cyprian affirms : 
" it is necessary that he who has been baptized, be anoint- 
ed likewise, that having received the chrism, that is, the 
unction, he may be the anointed of God, and may have in 
himself the grace of Christ."§ 

St. Cyril, of Jerusalem, compares the sacred chrism to 
the divine Eucharist: " You were anointed with oil, being 
made sharers and partners of Christ. And see well that 
you regard it not as mere ointment : for as the bread of the 
Eucharist, after the invocation of the Holy Ghost, is no 
longer mere bread, but the body of Christ, so likewise 
this holy ointment is no longer mere, or as one might say, 
common ointment, after the invocation, but the gift of 



* 2 Cor. i. 21. j- L. 1 ad Autolycum, n. xii. 

* De resur. earn. c. viii. § Epist. Ixx. ad Januar. 



DIVINE INSTITUTION. 253 

Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, being rendered efficient 
by His divinity. Thy forehead, and other senses, are 
anointed symbolically ; and whilst the body is anointed 
with visible ointment, the soul is sanctified by the holy and 
life-giving Spirit. You were anointed first on the fore- 
head, that you might be delivered from the shame which 
the first transgressor always experienced, and that you 
might contemplate the glory of God with an unveiled 
countenance." He proceeds to specify the unction of the 
ears, nostrils, and breast, which was then practised in the 
Eastern portion of the church, to express more fully the 
effects of the sacrament; and he adds : "As Christ, after 
His baptism, and the descent of the Holy Ghost upon 
Him, going forth overcame the adversary, so you, likewise, 
after holy baptism and the mysterious unction, clothed with 
I the panoply of the Holy Ghost, stand against the adverse 
i power, and subdue it, saying : ' I can do all things in 
Christ, who strengtheneth me.' "* 

St. Pacian, of Barcellona, argues that the power of for- 
giveness has descended to the bishops of the church, from 
the admitted fact, that they have the power to impart the 
Holy Ghost, which he calls the power of chrism : " is 
the power of binding and loosing confined to the Apostles ? 
j For the same reason they alone could baptize, they alone 
| could give the Holy Ghost, they alone could cleanse away 
the sins of nations, because all this was ordained to no 
others than the Apostles : if then the power of the laver 
and of chrism, gifts far more sublime, has come down to 
the bishops, they also have the right to bind and loose. "t 
St. Augustin says : " You wish to understand by this oint- 



* Cat. xxi. My st. iii. de Sacro Chrismate. 
+ Ep. i. ad Syrnpron. 

22 



254 DIVINE INSTITUTION. 

ment the sacrament of chrism, which, indeed, in the class 
of visible seals is as sacred as baptism itself."* 

The bishop is the ordinary minister of this sacrament. 
It is manifest that Philip, who baptized the Samaritans, 
had not the power of communicating the Holy Ghost by 
the imposition of hands. This was reserved for the Apos- 
tles. The narrative concerning Paul at Ephesus shows 
that it was not always conferred by the person who bap- 
tized. St. Chrysostom remarks on the former fact: " this 
was the prerogative of the Apostles ; therefore we see that 
the leaders, and none others did it."t St. Cyprian and 
St. Jerom, already quoted, testify that the bishops, who 
are the successors of the Apostles, performed the same 
rite ; and Pope Innocent I. maintains it to be the privilege 
of their office. " With regard to the confirmation of in- 
fants," he says, " it is manifest that it should not be done 
by any one but by the bishop. For presbyters, though 
they be priests, have not, nevertheless, the dignity of the 
pontifical office : and that it is the prerogative of pontiffs 
alone to mark (ivith chrism) or give the Holy Ghost, is 
evident, not only from the custom of the churches, but 
likewise from the reading of the very Acts of the Apostles, 
which relate that Peter and John were sent to communi- 
cate the Holy Ghost to those who had been already bap- 
tized. For priests baptize either in the absence or in the 
presence of the bishop, and are allowed to anoint with 
chrism those whom they baptize, provided it be consecrated 
by the bishop : but not to mark the forehead with the same 
oil, which is the privilege of the bishops alone, when they 
communicate the Holy Ghost."f 

* L. ii. contra lit. Petiliani, c. 104. n. 239. 

f Horn, xviii. in Acta Ap. + Ep. i. ad Decentium, c. 3, 



DIVINE INSTITUTION. 255 

It is not necessary that we should stop to examine the 
principles or practice of the Greeks on this point. It is 
certain that they admit this sacrament, which they desig- 
nate * the chrism of holy ointment,"* " the seal of the 
Holy Ghost."t The custom of administering it after bap- 
tism, by the priest, is different from our discipline ; but 
even amongst the Latins a priest sometimes confirms by the 
delegation of the sovereign pontiff. Although he is not 
the ordinary minister of this sacrament, he may be dele- 
gated to confer it, as we learn from the practice of the 
church. 

The end for which confirmation is administered, is to 
strengthen us in the belief of the Christian mysteries, and 
in the profession of our faith. We cannot apprehend with 
certainty supernatural truth, unless we are enlightened from 
above. We cannot acknowledge with divine faith our 
Lord Jesus Christ, unless the Holy Ghost exert his influ- 
ence on our mind, to dissipate its darkness, and stay its 
vacillation : " No man can say, the Lord Jesus, but by 
the Holy Ghost."± To profess our faith is a strict duty, 
for " with the heart," says the Apostle, " we believe unto 
justice ; but with the mouth confession is made unto salva- 
tion.'^ The temptations to deny it are numerous and 
powerful. It is scoffed at by the wise and prudent of this 
world, from whom, by a just judgment of God, it is hid- 
den : and few have fortitude to endure the imputation of 
credulity, simplicity, and superstition. It is unfashionable, 
and despised by those who possess or claim influence in 
society, and is regarded as the religion of the low, vicious, 

* Apud Coccium, torn. 2 Thes. p. 590. 

■j- These words are used by the Greeks in confirming. 

j 1 Cor. xii. 3. § Rom. x. 10. 



256 DIVINE INSTITUTION. 

and degraded— the offscourings of all — and few love the 
glory of God, rather than that of men. Our interest is 
often to be sacrificed to preserve our conscience without 
stain. How strong is the temptation in such cases to aban- 
don a religion which thwarts our schemes of ambition, and 
all our worldly designs ! Yet the penalty of apostasy from 
Christ, of the denial of His truth, is eternal separation 
from Him: " if we deny him, He also will deny us: if 
we believe not, He continueth faithful, He cannot deny 
Himself."* It is only the Holy Spirit, who can give us 
intrepidity in circumstances calculated to inspire fear, and 
heroic resolution, when faith and conscience require great 
sacrifices. " The " Spirit of our Father" spoke in the 
martyrs, and gave them wisdom which their adversaries 
could not resist. He still communicates his grace, and 
gives us strength, that we may not shrink from our good 
and glorious confession. " Since (says an ancient father) 
we are to pass our whole life in the midst of invisible ene- 
mies, and we must advance through dangers, we are rege- 
nerated unto life in baptism ; after baptism, we are con- 
firmed for the combat."t 

As from the perpetual practice of the church, it is mani- 
fest that this sacrament, as well as baptism, can be received 
but once, a spiritual character being impressed by it on the 
soul, it is necessary that much diligence be used in pre- 
paring for its reception. The discipline of the church has 
varied as to the age at which it may be received, it having 
been often conferred immediately after baptism, even to 
infants, w T hilst now it is more generally delayed until the 

* 2 Tim. ii. 13. 

\ Horn, in die Pentecost, tributa Eucherio Lugdun. torn. vi. bibli- 
oth. Patr. Lugd. p. 649. 



DIVINE INSTITUTION. 257 

child can be instructed in the leading mysteries of faith, 
and in the sanctity of the sacrament. The most ample in- 
struction is desirable ; but a knowledge of the great myste- 
ries of the adorable Trinity, and of our redemption through 
the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ, is particularly 
requisite. It is above all necessary that the heart should 
be pure, into which the Holy Ghost is invited. If stained 
by sin, the tears of repentance should wash away the stain. 
The humiliation of confession will dispose the soul for re- 
conciliation and grace ; but wo ! to the soul who, in this 
very act, lies to the Holy Ghost. He lies not to man, but 
to God ! 



22* 



258 



CHAPTER II. 



RITES OF CONFIRMATION. 




The rites used by the Apostles in the administration of 
the sacraments have not been recorded in the Sacred Scrip- 
ture. The leading rite has, indeed, been mentioned, but 
the details of the ritual were left to be learned from other 
sources. Had the Apostles used no ceremony but the sim- 
ple imposition of hands with prayer, in administering con- 
firmation, the Church would still be at liberty to add such 
rites as might seem calculated to awaken in the faithful, 
sentiments of piety, and impress them with the nature and 
effects of the sacrament. The simplicity of the original in- 
stitution might suit the circumstances in which it was first 
administered, and could not form an objection to such ad- 
ditional rites as might develop its import, and the obliga- 
tions attached to its reception. But we have reason to be- 
lieve, that the Apostles themselves used several ceremonies 
with a view to instruct the applicant, and to show the 
meaning and end of the sacrament. 

The ceremonies of confirmation, as it is now adminis- 
tered, are very simple. As the sacrament is directed to 
communicate the Holy Ghost, the bishop begins by this 
prayer : 

" May the Holy Ghost come upon you, and the power 
of The Most High guard you from sin. Amen." 

This prayer, with the whole rite of confirmation as now 



RITES OF CONFIRMATION. 259 

practised, though with some slight variety, and some differ- 
ence of arrangement, is found in an ancient Ritual of the 
church of Bolsena, a manuscript whereof, written in the 
eleventh or twelfth century, is still preserved.'' Almost 
the whole rite is likewise found in a liturgical book referred 
to the times of Pope Gelasius.t The prayer is in manifest 
harmony with the end had in view in the administration of 
the sacrament. 

The extension of the hands, with the accompanying 
prayer, is more immediately directed to obtain the grace of 
the Holy Ghost, with his sevenfold gifts for those, who, 
being already baptized, seek to be strengthened with this 
new succour. Of our Divine Redeemer the prophet Isaiah 
said : " The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him : the 
spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel 
and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of godliness, 
and he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the 
Lord.";): The bishop prays that the same spirit may rest 
on those over whom his hands are extended, that they may 
receive that wisdom which is from above, and may under- 
stand the things of God, which the sensual man perceiveth 
not ; that they may be guided with divine light in all the 
difficulties of life, and choose the better part: that they may 
be strengthened with power from on high, against all the 
enemies of salvation — the rulers of this world of darkness, 
the spirits of wickedness in high places : that they may have 
true knowledge, that of Jesus Christ crucified, the science 
of the saints : that they may cherish piety, devotion, tender 
attachment to all that regards the divine glory : and may 

* Rit. Eccl. Tyr. apud Trombelli, de conf. t. 1. diss. v. p. 199. 
•f L. 1. c. xliv. lib. Sac. Rom. Eccl. apud Thomasium 1. vi. operum 
p. 75. t Isaiah xi. 2. 



260 RITES OF CONFIRMATION. 

be replenished with filial fear of offending their heavenly 
Father. St. Ambrose makes a distinct reference to this 
portion of the prayer.* The bishop then prays God to 
mark them with the sign of the cross unto eternal life, and 
to be propitious to them, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
In uttering these words he makes the sign of the cross over 
them, which he afterwards makes on the forehead of each 
one, with holy chrism, saying : "I mark thee with the sign 
of the cross, and I confirm thee with the chrism of salvation, 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost. Amen." 

The making of the sign of the cross in the administra- 
tion of the sacraments, is a practice attested by the most 
ancient writers, and by all liturgical books. It is a profes- 
sion of our belief in a crucified Redeemer, from whom all 
grace is derived. The words formerly used on this occa- 
sion were: "The sign of Christ unto everlasting life." 
The Christian thus marked can say with St. Augustin : 
" So little am I ashamed of the cross, that I do not bear it 
in secret, but on my forehead. "J The antiquity of the 
practice of forming it with chrism is manifest from several 
testimonies of the Fathers. § 

The use of chrism has already been shown to be derived 
from the early ages. In the Latin church it is made of oil 

* L. de initiandis, c. vii. n. 42. 

j- Trombelli, diss. v. de conf. c. iii. q. i. p. 265. 

J Enarr. in Ps. 141. ad v. 4. n. 9. 

§ S. Prosper, in Psychomachia, sect. vi. de Luxuria et sobriet. 
v. 50. 

Post inscripta oleo frontis signacula, per quae 
Unguentum regale datum est, et chrisma perenne ! 

See also Prudentius poem. iii. Apotheosis, v. 490. 



RITES OF CONFIRMATION. 261 

of olives, and of balsam ; this latter ingredient being in- 
tended to signify the sweet odour of virtue, which the per- 
fect Christian spreads around him. The Greeks, with the 
same view, unite the juice of many odoriferous plants in the 
composition. The chrism is called " the chrism of salva- 
tion," because it is directed to signify the saving influence 
of the Holy Ghost, by which we are strengthened unto 
everlasting life. 

The gentle blow on the cheek, given by the bishop, to the 
person confirmed, is intended to remind him that he should 
be ready to suffer for the faith of Christ. The lesson of our 
Saviour, that we should be ready to present the left cheek 
to him who strikes us on the right, is admirably insinuated 
by this rite. " Peace be to thee" is said, because in pa- 
tience we are to possess our souls. 

After some prayers the solemn benediction is given by 
the Pontiff, that God may bless them from Sion, and that 
they may see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of 
their lives. This manner of terminating the rite is both 
ancient and appropriate. A similar blessing is found in a 
manuscript of the eighth century. Those who receive the 
grace of confirmation need the continuation of divine aid to 
persevere to the end, and obtain an eternal benediction. 



THE END. 



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